The Amazing Blog of the Evensen Family

Cake anyone?

2011-11-23T06:02:00.001-08:00

Late halloween?

2011-11-19T05:19:00.000-08:00

It seems that someone is this house thinks it's still Halloween.

Adam the friendly ghost

Do Ghosts drive? Well.. this one does.

craftiness and other things

2011-11-19T05:12:00.000-08:00

I have been a little crafty lately.. I've actually finished several project but I haven't photo documented everything. But today I feel like sharing some of my projects.. and most likely a bunch of photos of my favorite little guy.

Last weekend our 2 sweet nieces were celebrated. Eline turned 8 and was baptised and her baby sister Silje was blessed and named.
Eline has asked me ages ago if I would make her a purse out of paper.. you know the kind.. the candy wrapper purse. I had told her that I didn't know how (and I knew that it's a rather slow process). I had tried part of the process before (I made a bracelet) but I decided to 'youtube' the entire purse making process. Youtube was a great help, and I jumped into making my first paper purse ever. The result is not perfect but Eline was very pleased, and so was I.

For baby Silje I had the chance to use my "new" (I got it for my birthday in June) butterfly paper punch to make a paper mobile.

My earlier mobiles have had problems with the wooden sticks I used as the hanger. I made a star of 3 sticks, but the had a tendency to shift, because my tying skills apparently are lacking greatly. This time I tried making a triangle instead. It proved a lot easier for me to to tie 2 sticks together at a time, than 3.

I used fishing line so the butterflies really looked like flying.

The entire family from Norway came down for the celebrations, so we had a busy but fun weekend with the family. Adam loved, loved, loved spending time with (being chased around by) all of his cousins. (below with cousin Leo)

Birthday girl Eline

I'm a hopeless party-photographer I forget taking pictures. So I don't even have a picture of baby Silje. But she was there too.. cute as a button.

hey, look who's walking

2011-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

He's been walking for a couple of weeks now. This video was shot just a few days after he started walking. He's faster and more stable now, in fact I almost couldn't keep up with him today when we went for a short walk, he's almost running (typical! it's a bit ironic actually that my son is a runner! sigh).

1 year

2011-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

One year ago at this time we brought home our newborn baby boy, only a few hours after he was born. The year has passed faster than I ever could imagine, and he has grown from a tiny helpless and dependent baby to a big boy who's almost walking, who knows what he wants, who can climb stairs, sofas, people , who kisses big sloppy wet kisses and who makes funny faces. Happy birthday baby (who's no longer a baby).

Adam once again

2011-09-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

Adam's daycare-mom is soo wonderful. She texts me short updates during the day to let me know that Adam is happy and well.
Earlier today she sent me this picture with a sweet message telling us "that we should be proud of our son, that he's a real Superman, a great boy who's making his daycare mom go all soft...."

He makes me go all soft and mushy as well.

My baby

2011-09-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Adam's first day in daycare (it's a little private daycare with one daycare-mom and 2 other children). I cannot tell you how weird it feels to leave my little baby in the care of someone else. We rarely have him babysat by others( and almost onlyfamily) and then only for few hours at the time. But luckily we have found a really sweet daycare-mom and we fully trust her to take good care of him.
We have tried to have a smooth introduction with a couple of visits with both me and Michael, and a couple of times with me alone.
But today is his first "real day" there. I stayed with him for the first hour or so, then I helped put him down for his nap, and later his daycare-mom will call me when it's time for the kids' afternoon nap and I'll come pick him up, so his first day won't be too long.

I feel very torn, and I keep having a feeling that I should be a stay-at-home mom, but I'm not quite sure if it's just my own insecurity about not being able to find a job, or if it really would be the best thing for Adam (and me).
I don't really know if I'm cut out for being a homemaker - I'll tell you, sometimes I'm definitely not! I have my days where I want to pull my hair out and I almost scream for a grocery shopping trip ALONE when Michael comes home.
We have decided that for now, Adam will be in daycare and I'll continue my job hunt, and maybe when times are better (we have to be sure that Michael has a secure job) well talk it over once more.

If you miss Adam a bit like I do - then watch this video of him making his kissing mouth (with sound)

BTW - guess who took 3 steps by himself while we were in Norway during the weekend? (.. and try to guess who sobbed afterwards - my little baby is a big boy now)

Happy Michael's day everybody

2011-08-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hair

2011-08-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I realized that my hair was getting pretty long. After giving birth I started to shred a lot.. I'm talking handfulds here. So at my first post-birth hairdressing appointment I wanted it short (shoulder lenght short) and blond (hadn't dyed it for a couple of years). But my trusted hairdresser talked me out of the short part (and a bit out of the blond - we went for some blond highlights instead).
I almost always wear my hair up in a ponytail (boring I know, but I hate hair in my face) but a couple of weeks ago I decided to wear it down more often. After styling it I realizes that it was getting really long - I hadn't cut it since the aforementioned hairdressing session, a month or so after having Adam.
I have decided that I like my hair long. But 11 months of growth leaves it's marks. So I needed a trim.

My sister had told me that she had trimmed her own hair (if you know my sister, this should come as a major chock to you - she is almost crumbled in tears when getting her beautiful thick blond her cut) She had done it using a self-trimming method she had found of the internet.

So today I decided to do the same. I have trimmed my hair. It was amazingly easy, and I'm pretty content with the result. My hairs is a bit wavy (and I still often wear it in a ponytail) so I figure you wouldn't notice the imperfections.
This is the method I used (I went for the medium u-shape)

Apart from desperately needing to be washed, I think it looks great and a bit more healthy.

Our big boy

2011-08-17T06:16:00.000-07:00

..with his big boy hair-cut.

I think he looks all grown up with his short hair, brushing his own teeth and all - what do you think?

Carrot Love

2011-08-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

I found these lovebirds in the garden yesterday - I guess I should apologize for disturbing their little "Menage a deux"

New Life

2011-08-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world sweet tiny niece - we can't wait to get to know you

Garden of abundance

2011-08-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

Adam loves the tiny sweet carrots.

Our tiny garden has brought us great joy. I have loved watching everything grow, and I truly enjoy sitting in my sofa at night looking at my garden through our living room window. I often take a small walk around the garden to look how things are coming along, removing a weed here and there, and pinching of the small new leaves of the tomato plants.

We have eaten and given away more lettuce that I ever thought possible. We munch on a small carrot now and then, I've used a coupe of the red onions for nice salads and we've eaten all the peas and the strawberries the birds left us.
My tomatoes are coming along - I do fear the taste though. The sun has now given lots of warmth and sweetness to them, but I'll eat them anyways.

The tomatoes a week ago

Today!

The red onions are laid to dry.

Weirdo!

The garden is not at all perfect - and it definitely is a learning process, but it's a lot of fun, and I'm sure that next year the tomatoes will be sweet, the strawberries numerous, and the carrots will be big.

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEDSTEMOR WE LOVE YOU*

who would have thought?

2011-08-06T00:09:00.001-07:00

I found a webpage that can help people like you and me to finally find the answers to the essential question; which celebrity do I look like. I'm so thankful that I finally know that Kirsten Dunst is my celebrity look-a-like, we look like twins. Who would have thought?

MyHeritage: Stamtrær - Slægtsforskning - berømtheder

walking - almost

2011-08-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

In the end of June Adam finally started crawling on all fours. He had been doing the army crawl for a while, and he has been getting up for a long time as well. So now the next milestone is walking.

He has this walker from IKEA and he has been dragging it through the house, sometimes he even turned it upside down and dragged it along his small trips up and down the hall.
He has been trying to stand up holding the bar, but it only worked when the walker stood up against a wall or some furniture. A couple of weeks ago I thought of putting some weight in the walker to give it some resistance. So Adam's walker is now loaded with 4 pounds of rice. It worked! Adam has been walking ever since. Do you want to see some proof? I know you do.

In the beginning he almost looked like he was falling forward, but he remained walking and only stopped when he hit an obstacle. But in a couple of days he learned how to control the speed, and can now stop whenever he wants to. Now he just has to learn how to steer.

coming back

2011-08-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there.
I guess, I just needed a break from blogging during this summer. There has been plenty to blog about, but I have been in a weird mood. A non-blogging mood. Not a bad mood, just a lazy summer mood. But I can feel a change. My days are more organized and my desire to reach out to the outside world is coming back. I have been a horrible friend as well, hardly contacting anyone beside the people who almost automatically came past my way. Strange. I'm sorry friends. I really do care.

Now I'm back, so I feel I need to warn you. There will be loads of catching up and old pictures.. and let's face it Adam-picture-spam. The kid has grown, I tell you. The past month has been a crazy "learning new things"-/ "first time ever" -/ "growing-up" - month.

The best news is that Michael has a new job (again) He's been working for 1½ week now, and he likes his new job (still carpentry) and he has an experienced companion who teaches him lots of new skills. He's a bit tired though (very understandable, after 7 months of unemployment) but we try to great him with a happy kiss and a hug when he comes home in the late afternoon.

Did you notice I said try? I really do try, but I have been so spoiled all this time. Imagine, two adults per kid... does it get better than that? We have taken drives, been on outings, shared diaper changes, meal time, clean-up time and all that comes with running a household. Now I'm alone from 6.30 am to 4.30(5ish)pm with a boy who's able to climb anywhere (yes, he can get up the couch and from there the window sill is just a step away), who doesn't understand that using the floor lamps as dancing poles is not a good idea, and who prefers eating his porridge with his fingers.
When M comes home, I am ready for a break. Even a 3 minute bathroom break is an amazing enjoyments - so sad.

I know I'm spoiled and I'm sure that it just takes a bit getting used to.

Shadows

2011-06-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a slight different in the shape of my shadow lately. It's not the fact that my shadow seems to have shrunk that the problem, no, it's more that it seems to have transformed into the shape of what looks like a 9 month old baby boy.

Separation anxiety! Aargggg!

Some months ago one of my friends told me about how her son was going through separation anxiety, and I don't think she'll mind that I write that she was going a teeny bit crazy. I felt sorry for her, and I hoped that it wouldn't hit Adam too hard.

Both Michael and I are normally home during the week, because I'm still on maternity leave and he's (still!!) unemployed, so I was assuming that being surrounded by us all the time would help him to go through this development smoothly. Luckily I do think I was partly right in my assumption, as it seems that both Michael and I are equally important to him right now. He doesn't seem to prefer one of us over the other, but I'm still going ready for this to have an end. Please tell me that this will be over in a couple of days. Please.

Adam is usually very good at playing by himself. He's always investigating and exploring his surroundings but now he's hanging around our legs all the time. If we put him on the floor, he instantly begins to cry and he crawls towards us and tries to crawl up (even if we sitting right next to him). One of us have to be with him all the time, and preferably having him in our arms all the time.

Michael is out on his weekly sport-playing night right now, he left at 7 and Adam normal goes to bed at 8, so I only had to entertain him for an hour before putting him to bed. But getting him ready turned out to be quite a task, especially when I realized the minute I was alone that I had to go to the bathroom. For a brief second I considered running up the stair and do my business while Adam could play downstairs. I tried putting him on the floor just to see his reaction... Am I the only mother out there who has been to the bathroom with her baby pulling himself up by her legs and crying because he wants to sit on the lap? Oh please tell me I'm not the only one.

I actually had the opportunity to go away for a couple of days tomorrow until Saturday, but I had decided not to go because I felt it was too early for me to be away from Adam that long. I have been going back and forth and I have been feeling a bit silly with my decision, but now that Adam is the way he is, I know that it was the right decision. I would have hated leaving Michael alone with Adam for 3 days, even though I know that Michael would have handled it well, I'm sure that this is not the right time to be away from home.

I'm really taking my hat of to all the parents out there who raise their children alone or almost alone with spouses who work long days.

Early Harvest

2011-05-30T01:52:00.000-07:00

We had friends over for a barbecue last Friday, it ended up being one of the indoor kinds... on the stove (it was too rainy, too windy, too cold to cook outside). Hamburgers are great either way, and they are especially great when eaten with a fresh salad.

We picked fresh lettuce from our own garden, fresh herbs for a dressing and fresh mint leaves for the water. I love eating selfgrown food. We only have a little bit of food in our tiny garden, but the fun of watching the plants grow and the enjoyment of eating something you have taken care of yourself is really wort it. I'm sure that the financial benefit can be overlooked (especially this first year, where we have used money on getting the garden ready) but the personal benefit is great. I can't wait for Adam to be big enough to help and to understand the little wonder it really is to watch a seed grow into a big plant.

Owl

2011-05-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a lot creative things lately (apart from the banner for Adam's room), but I had a chance to break out the glue and glitter the other day. A good friend of mine had a birthday and I wanted to pop by with at little card and a present for her. I'm so in love with the owl gift wrapping paper I used for the bookcase in Adam's room, so I decided to use the paper for a card.
I used one of the blank cards I had received in my gift bag from the bloggers convention and instead of glue I used double sided tape (to avoid the paper to wrinkle) to attach the paper to the card. I decided to add a bit of sparkle with some green glitter, but I used way too much glue and it took forever to dry. I guess i was a bit impatient for once (ha ha) and I put my big ol' thump right into the glue/glitter and smeared it all up.

Now I know you should always have a variety of different colored buttons at hand - they covered up the smear and added a little extra dimension to the card.

I know it's not the world's seventh wonder, but I think it came out okay, and it was easy to make... and I got the chance to use more of my owl paper. Have you noticed that I never actual use the paper for it's true purpose - to wrap gifts? I love to much to waste big pieces of it that way.

Adam's new room

2011-05-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

I promised you pictures from Adam's new room. He has been sleeping in there a couple of nights now.. not very successfully, unfortunately. He's acting up like crazy and waking up several times during the night, but we're hanging in there. We are trying to get him used to the room so he feels comfortable and safe in there. We're doing that by using the room during the day, and hopefully he will soon feel just as safe and happy sleeping in there as anywhere else in the house. Today we went up there after dinner, changed him into his pajamas, and played and read in the room. He loves reading in his Postman Pat book. It's so much fun. He hears me reading with a quiet voice, asking him "where's Pat's cat?" (The cat is missing) and then I point at the cat (his name is Emil in Danish)... and Adam is doing the same.. talking quietly as if he's reading.. "ba-ba-la-da-aaaa" and he points (at anything) and turns the pages.

I've glued the cool owl gift wrapping paper on the back of his little bookcase. It's not my best DIY project to date. I have a tendency to be a bit sloppy and impatient. I put in the shelves before the paper/glue was dry, and off course I scraped off bits of the wet paper - bu-huuu. Working with gift wrapping paper as wall paper isn't always easy, because the paper is quite thin and wrinkles when getting wet. But I'm still happy with the look, and as long as I don't look to closely it's acceptable.

The monster mobile is now hanging over the changing table, it's a desperate try to get the little worm to lie still... on his back, when changing him (it's not working so far, but I still have hope)

I've made a flag garland (well, help me here.. what is this really called in English?)

I love those, and I've been wanting to make one for ever. I used the fabric I got at the blogger convention, it's absolutely perfect for the look I wanted. As I said, I have been wanting to make one forever, but was a bit scared off, after reading my friend Lene's blog. She wrote that it included a lot of ironing, and just like her I HATE ironing. So I've been putting of the project until I found an almost iron-free process. I did! All I had to iron was the folding crease, and that was it. I cut the flags with my zigzag scissors, and then I just sew along the edges, easy-peasy.

The ghost from IKEA, is a night light, and it has served me well already, as a late night reading or feeding light. It's wonderful with a dim light in the room that doesn't make us all (especially baby) believe that is broad daylight.

2 front teeth

2011-05-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Adam is now the proud owner of two tiny, but very sharp (ouch) front teeth. I have been wanting to take pictures of them for a couple of weeks now, but even though we see them all the time when he smiles or talks, it has proven nearly impossible to get photo evidence of the magic teeth wonder. I don't know if it's because his "camera smile" is different than his "normal smile" but I have only managed to get one (blurry) picture.

I do think that my teeth-less pictures came out quite good - I actually was about to give up and I was sorting though the pictures when I saw a white glow...

Teeth!

Moving

2011-05-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've started working 2 days a week. I've been so lucky and blessed to get a temporary job 2 days a week - Thursdays and Fridays until summer vacation. I'm teaching a young student who's unable to attend regular school at the moment. It's very exciting, and a good opportunity to get some experience and some contacts. There aren't very many teaching jobs due to cut downs, so I really need all the help I can get. I'm still on maternity leave 3 days a week, but am able to combine the two things - It's just a perfect solution.

Today is a national holiday, so I had the day off. Instead we spend the day working at home.

Wednesday, I had mentioned to my Mr. that I had been considering switching Adam's room the our spare room. The rooms are practically identical except for Adam's room has a door out to the balcony, and the other room just has a normal window. But because of the door, I found it difficult to decorate the room properly, and because Adam isn't actually using his room yet (except for the changing table) we had a tendency to use it more for storage and for drying our laundry. Because the room had access to the balcony it was easy to take the drying rack in or out on the balcony (depending on the weather).

Our spare room had a work table (I never use.. I take all my stuff down to the living room), a guest bed, shelves and bookcases (plus a lot of other random things) but no room for the drying rack.

I had just mentioned the idea to my Mr. and he didn't seem über convinced. But yesterday when I came home from work, he had started taking down the shelves and preparing the move. Today we did the big move. Both rooms are now furnished, and even though I even sometimes doubted the idea, because it seems a bit silly changing when the rooms are practically identical, I'm so happy we (mostly Michael.. I was keeping little mister-all-over-the-place away) did it. Adam's room is much more harmonious and there's room for a little play area, and because we took away the work table in the spare room, we now have room for the drying rack in there. Who knows... maybe Adam will start sleeping in his own room soon.

I'll post pictures later.. but there's still some things that needs sorting and fixing. I'll post pictures later.

For now you can enjoy a picture of our Tiny Mister

Favorite toy?

2011-05-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Adam's favorite toy is for the time being this:

No, not the ball that's stuck in a cup-thingy... no, it's the stick. I guess my boy is just simple like that.
He crawls around with the stick in one hand, banging it at the floor,and trying to reach other things with it.

Oh yeah, he loves it all right. Sometimes I try to convince him that the stick is more fun when use as it is intended to..

well, almost like it's intended to.. the clown's face is missing, it has probably been used as a golf ball by Adam and his stick.. or golf club and is now living a quiet, maybe happier life underneath the couch.

Adam thinks I'm silly, stacking the rings on his favorite toy, and he almost fights me to get his stick back.

hmm... looking at this picture of the clown makes me realize that I haven't seen that red "collar" in a while either. I guess it's not that important... as long as the stick is here.

Have a nice evening out there...
love Nathalie
whose son just pulled himself up the coffee table for the first time... oh dear.. time to clear the table.

April

2011-05-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

This morning I had received an email from a friend who was a bit concerned about some missing post on my blog. As many of you know, Blogger has had some problems this past week, and many blog-posts were lost (and re-found.. I think). She wrote that I must have lost some posts, because the last post on the blog, was from march 30th.

I wish that I could blame Blogger on the missing posts, but I'm afraid that the blame is on me. It's strange because I've often made blog-posts in my head, but I haven't transferred the ideas to the actual blog.. wouldn't that be cool though... imagine if all I had to do was compose a post in my head, and imagine which pictures I would use and maybe end by thinking "Publish" and then it would be transfered directly from my brain to the internet... wow baby.. awesome.... one day I tell you, one day.

In April we were in Norway. Michael's oldest brother was (finally) marrying his lifelong girlfriend and the entire family gathered during easter. It was a wonderful trip, and we were so blessed with the most wonderful weather ever! I love being in Norway, the nature is so beautiful... and it's all around you all the time. Even when walking in the city (Drammen) you can see the wonderful nature up on the steep hills (mountains? - I'll have to remind you that I'm Danish... we don't have any mountains here... anything taller than a flagpole looks like mountains to me)

It was wonderful that the entire family could gather. Michael has a big family (2 parents, 7 siblings, 6 in-laws and 15 (+ 1 one on the way) nieces and nephews), and we are a bit spread out, so we enjoy the few time we can all gather.

My brother-in-law is the Bishop (for our church) in Drammen and he has a licence to marry, so he married the happy couple.

This is a classic Evensen picture -

(here's an older version minus oldest brother)

My mother-in-law wears the traditional outfit "Bunad" - it's very common in Norway to wear the traditional dress for festive occasions. I think it's so pretty and special.

See those two bumps? The two teeth broke through 2 weeks later, so now Adam is the proud owner of to small white teeth.

We are already looking forward to our next trip. See you later Norway (uh and happy 17th of May - Hurra!)

Here's a little teaser you can watch while I finally write new blog posts

2011-05-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

I love his little tongue and he loves his new tunnel.

Creative blogger convention

2011-03-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday I had the great pleasure of attending a small Creative Blogger Convention. I don't consider myself a Creative Blogger, I'm just a blogger who occasionally blog about my few creative projects.. or about creative projects I find inspiring. But my good friend Lone (who IS a creative blogger) was the woman behind the convention, and she invited me.

We were about 40 bloggers gathered and some of them had set up stands where they sold either creative supplies (like yarn, fabric, crocheting needles and so forth). There were workshops where we could learn new crafts and ideas, there was food and there were goody-bags (yay)

I learned to make bracelets out of paper and packaging tape (if I had the patience I could even add to the bracelet and make a small handbag - cool huh?).

There were also owl-making (both in painting and in patchwork), and stump-work learning, and knitting/crochet help and a class where we could learn to make bracelets out of old maps.

One of the other bloggers - unikarina brought several rolls of beautiful fabric, and we could take all the fabric we could use, we only had to promise that we would use it and maybe even give a donation to Japan. I only took a bit - but I have a couple of ideas already, I'll hopefully post a super creative blog-posts in honor of the Creative Blogger Convention.

Lone had everything under control, and her sweet husband and her good friend (and owner of the venue) helped with all the practical thing.... and they made the delicious food.

It was a fun and interesting day.... and by the way the longest I had been away from Adam (it was before the trip to Germany... it seems I'm making a habit out of leaving my kid - poor baby!).

Lone is quite the party-planner, and I'm sure that she has used a lot of time and talents to find sponsors, arrange and invite, she never does anything half-heartedly.

Germany date

2011-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left this little cutie pie with his grandparents as Michael and I headed for Germany.

(Adam was sleeping in yesterday - I guess the change from daylight saving time messed his inner schedule up a bit)

I almost can't believe we had an entire day without our little angel, but he would have hated being strapped in his car seat all day long, and we could have some time alone.

We didn't have a particular reason for going, I think we just needed a little date.. why not go to Germany then? It's only 2-3 hours away from where we live.

What we saw most of was this:

Hello everybody:

Rawww - hot driver!

The weather was beautiful yesterday. Bright and sunny (and windy and cold) it really was a perfect day. I sensed spring in the air, as we passed by fields with a bit of green on them. I really enjoy the change in seasons. I love all the seasons, but somehow my favorite is always the "new season"; the promise of spring, the warmth of summer, the cooling down at autumn, and the darkness of winter.

We bought too much chocolate, fizzy drinks and other weird things you have to buy when shopping in a different country. I tried to speak German (Michael was very impressed when I ordered a strawberry milkshake... "erdbeer - milkshake" - wow baby!). We played car games, talked, and laughed all the way. I just love spending time with the love of my life.

Handbag - update

2011-03-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Lo and behold - the new handbag...

The green fabric is more "color-correct" in this picture

As you might have noticed I didn't make the bag with the fabulous fabric mentioned earlier, as it turned out I didn't have enough. We ended up taking a small drive to the fabric store (yay) where I used way too much time thinking, pondering, and walking back and forth with big rolls of fabric to compare colors and patterns.

I'm very happy with the result, and it was fairly easy to make.

A new project (maybe)

2011-03-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

I need a new bag. The dream is of course a yummy nice soft leather bag, but when the finances says 'no', it's time to think of other possibilities. I'm considering sowing my own. I've found a free pattern, and I like the size and design. Now I just have to look through my cluttered fabric cupboard and see if I have the materials needed... and then I have to see if I can muster enough energy to get it started.... and done (let's not get into all the unfinished projects I have lying around).

Picture from Think Liz.

If you want to see the free pattern go to this site (there's a ton of free patterns here). I have some beautiful fabric I bought on etsy, but I'm afraid I don't have enough, but maybe I can use it for some details on the bag.

Look at this beautiful fabric:

Isn't it pretty? I bought it here. really want to use it, but I'm not even sure that I have some other fabric that goes with it.

Dear, this project might not start today (unless I can talk Michael into a trip to our local fabric store - yay!)

Today's pictures

2011-03-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is what you look like after sneezing with the mouth full of yummy breakfast. (I should have taken a picture of my pants - they were covered in cereal).

Adam and I drove my mom to a doctor's appointment today. At the doctor's office my mom put Adam in a rocking horse.. and our big boy dragged himself right up.
Yesterday he finally started rolling from his back to his stomach.
I think it's amazing to see him grow and learn new skills, but I can't believe how fast it's going.

I apologize the very poor picture quality - the camera on my phone is horrible. Sorry.

Spring?

2011-03-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Dare I believe it? Is spring really here?
Just this morning I noticed several tiny snowdrops in our (very) small flower bed in front of our house.
We moved in during the summer, so I didn't even know they were there... hiding in the ground just waiting for the early spring sun to warm up the ground.
Snowdrops, we welcome you and the promise of spring that you bring.

Picture of the day

2011-03-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Have a nice Sunday everybody

6 months

2011-03-12T02:44:00.000-08:00

Our baby is 6 months old! Time really has flown by. It seems like yesterday he was born, and now he is this big boy who makes faces and sounds, sits, eats solids, drinks from a cup, laugh, says: "mwa-mwa.mwa-dwa-dwa-dwa-mwa" (or something like that).
He's so cute and we LOVE him!

Can you spot the photographer?

A thing or two has happened the last 6 months

1 day old

Monster's Inc.

2011-03-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished my monster mobile kit I (Adam) got from Lene. When Lene saw that I had been makin mobiles (paper stars and rockets) she decided to leave it up to me if I wanted to use the mosnters for a mobile or something else. I ended up selling my favorite star-mobile so I decided to make the monster one. I just finished it yesterday, and I think it's wicked!

Adam likes it. It looks no nice hanging over his bed. Thank you Lene!

Cousin Adrian

2011-03-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

Adam's cousin Adrian is a wonderful 5 (almost 6) year-old charmer.

Almost every Sunday at church he asks us two things.

Question #1: Do you have any gum?

Question #2: Can I go home with you after church?

We almost always have gum (sometimes we pretend not to, but it's a rare Sunday where Adrian leaves the church gum-less).

The other question is too often answered with a 'No, not today'. It's not because we don't want to have him over, Sunday is just one of those days... you know... Adam's naps are interrupted, and we're tired and we almost always go to my parent's house in the afternoon for dinner.

But last Sunday we finally made a plan for Adrian to come visit us during the week. We agreed on Wednesday ('Wednesday... it that tomorrow?') being the best day. So yesterday at 2.15pm the three of us went to Adrian's kindergarten to pick him up.

We hadn't planned anything in particular (even though Adrian was hoping to go to McDonald's) but we stayed home. Adrian played a bit with Adam and uncle Mike, saw part of a movie, entertained me in the kitchen and just hung out.

Two out of three seem more interested in the TV than playing. Boys!

He was very interested in dinner, and he got to chose if he wanted broccoli or belled pepper with his pasta and chicken (peppers!). He didn't like the white sauce (apparently it was lumpy) but he ate his (dry) pasta, chicken and belled peppers with much delight. He even tasted a prune (Adam's dessert).. (me: 'It's just like a giant raisin') He got pop sickles for dessert (left over warm summer day (ahhh) pop sickles from our freezer).

Adam was very interested in his cousin, and he really was looking at him all the time, except for when the camera appeared - *smile*.

I hope Adrian had a nice afternoon, we enjoyed having him over.. and I'm sure Adam did as well.

Weaning

2011-03-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

For a couple of weeks now we have been introducing solids to Adam. I hadn't planned to begin weaning him before he was 6 months old, but our sweet boy was VERY interested in our food. He reached out for everything we ate and he seemed so ready. So when he reached 5 months I tried giving him some mashed potatoes. He ate everything! I had expected him to eat a spoonful or two, but he ate the whole thing. (well, it was a small baby size portion - but still!). Now he's tried a lots of things.. of course only suitable for babies his age. But he really likes vegetables, I haven't had so sweeten it with fruit. But he has eaten carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, turnip - each mixed with mashed potatoes, rice cereal, corn porridge and mashed prunes and apricot. He likes everything. Even though it can be hard to keep it all in the mouth.

Thursday we went to his 5 month check-up and vaccine. The doctor said that Adam seems healthy and fine, but he should probably gain a bit more weight. At 5month and 2 weeks he measured 69cm and weighed 7,3kg. He's a bit on the small side, that's why we've decided to add one more meal. So now he eats dinner AND lunch.

The only problem is, that he likes it so much that the breast milk isn't that interesting now. I guess he has to work a bit to hard to get it, while the food just comes into his tiny tummy with minimum effort from his side. We have to get used to the new food routine, and wriggle portion size and meal times around a bit.

He might be tiny, but he's sure cute.

Can you find the baby?

2011-02-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a baby who's suppose to be sleeping.

Adam had already slept 35 minutes, but then woke up and thought that he was missing out on a great party. We gave in and took him down to the living room, but in an attempt to get him settled down Michael put the plaid as a "wall" between Adam and the TV. After a while Adam had pulled the plaid over his head so only his face showing. So here he is... in his sleeping bag, with a blanket and a plaid, trying to convince us that his not tired at all.

I won't leave you with only that small picture of his face.... you deserve to se a decent picture of our cute big boy.

Hi there, handsome!

Why does this always happen?

2011-02-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

Why does this always happen when I bake brownies?

No, I don't mean why the brownie is almost gone... I know why that happens (yum).

Ever since I saw an episode of Oprah (favorite things) where she gave this brownie pan to her audience, I've wanted to bake brownies. But even though I use the best brownie recipe ever (Ben & Jerry's recipe) the top always separates from the actual brownie.. like this:

Even though I do enjoy picking of the top and snack on it, it would be nice to be able to cut pretty pieces, and not just crumbly pieces (especially if I were to share my brownie with friends and guests... I mean.... if that ever should happen... ah-hem).

I remember that I once read somewhere why it happens, and how to avoid it, but I simply can't remember. Can you help me?

Do you want to see our handsome baby?

2011-02-08T04:56:00.000-08:00

5 months on Friday! He's really active and you can see that he really wants to move around. He's rather good at spinning around i circles when he's lying on the floor, he just has to work a bit on movings forwards instead, but I'm sure he'll be crawling before we know it.

We love you our dear precious Adam.

Sunday Best

2011-02-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

A package should have arrived at the Brandt household today. I took me a while to get the package out the door and the reason is not that I just couldn't get around to shipping it of, no, this is just a prove of my horrific lack of fantasy.
The thing is, Lene is an amazing gift giver - she just has the ability to put a face on all the cute things she sees around her. I imagine Lene thinking this to herself when spotting a cupcake shaped lip gloss:

Lene: "ah, that cupcake shaped lip gloss would be perfect for Nathalie"

If it were me, I would think:
Nathalie: "ah, a fun cute cupcake shaped lip gloss, how fun.......
.......
......
hmmm... maybe I should buy it.....
.....
It could be a gift to someone.....
.......
......
Uh, Maybe Lene would like it....
but wait, maybe Lene doesn't like cupcake shaped lip glosses, maybe she would prefer a brownie shaped one...
wait, does Lene use lip gloss? I'll better not buy it......."

What I'm trying to say is, that in a very short amount of time I have received two very cute and thoughtful packages from Lene (1 was also from the hobby club). And I really want to send her cute and pretty and thoughtful things, but all I could come up with was the gift for the boys. For weeks I've tried to look around to find more things to put in package, but yesterday I gave up and mailed the gift only containing these:

I wanted white t-shirts, but I couldn't find any... anywhere. Until the other day that is. In H&M (the shop I almost always shop in - but didn't think to look in) I found perfect long sleeved t-shirts - so Lene, if you like the style but want the"white shirts and tie look" for your boys, I'll make them for you.

I just made one for Adam yesterday, and I would have finished one for another friend if Adam had slept last night as he had promised me he would. But I'll let you see the work in progress:

(The tie is ironed on, but not sown on yet). Aren't they cute though? Not a original patented Nathalie-idea, but more a combination of this and this.

I have made onesies with ties before, but I can't seem to find the pictures I've taken (and too lazy to take new ones... and Adam has out grown them already).

ps. do you want to see what Lene's last package to us contained? (too cute - love it, love it, loooove it) Look here (see this fellow right here ... he's my favorite).

(post edit - the lip gloss came in the package from the entire hobby-club, as it turns out Maria is a great gift-finder-giver as well (thank u M.). The lip gloss was just used as an example of the conversation that goes on in my head be it Lene, Maria, Louise, Michael or anyone else I want to surprise with a little gift)

Packet in the mail

2011-01-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished one of my projects. I've wanted to make something for my friend Lene's two boys for a while, and now I finally got around to it. I won't show the final product yet, but here's a sneak peak.

Now all I have to do is to get the packet in the mail... with my pace it will happen in a week or two ( hey, maybe I'll surprise myself and do it tomorrow!)

Hello My Name is Nathalie

2011-01-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

- and I'm the sole contributor to this blog.

I just thought I would re-introduce myself since it's been quite a while. I figured you might have forgotten all about me.

What?

Oh, why I haven't written in a while?

Well, because of him

yes... him

and a bit because of him

Ha ha.. isn't he cute? (who? both of them of course).

We're are just enjoying life and each other, and right now the days are passing by in such a fun/relaxing/stressful/slow/quick/boring/exciting way that some days I just don't have the time to write in here, other days I don't have anything to write and sometimes I would just rather do this:

But don't you worry - I haven't forgotten about this blog, many more blog-post will come.

But while you wait for more - have a look at these two (I wan't to be them when I grow up - yes both of them!).

See you soon.

Giggles

2011-01-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

Adam is so much fun now. He's getting big, and he's so alert and interested in everything that goes on around him. He has the cutes smile and the most wonderful laugh. For Christmas we got a pocket size camera, and it can video film - so welcome to the Adam Video premier.

Enjoy!

I apologize the poor quality, but it is rather difficult to film and bounce a balloon at the same time.

Happy New Year Everybody!

2011-01-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

We had invited my sister and some friends over to celebrate New Years with us. Unfortunately our friends had had a couple of hard days with their little baby girl, so the thought of a 3 hour drive each way and spending the night at our house didn't seem so attractive, so they cancelled.
But even though we missed their company we had a fun and relaxing evening.
My sister and I had seen a cooking show where they made the traditional "kransekage" Marcipan cake - and we decided to try it out.
Actually this was one of these things that didn't even look easy on TV, but we decided to take the challenge and make the best out of it. If you want to try it look here.
We had A LOT of fun trying to make it look pretty, and the final result wasn't that bad actually.
Have a look:

The lady from the TV show suggested that greenies could practice decorating with the royal icing on a broom stick.. I did it on a chap stick instead.

I "allowed" Louise to practice on the left over cake.. it sure wasn't pretty.

But amateurs or not - have a look at the final result... not too shabby eh?

We even decorated the living room and everything

We had nachos for dinner, with home made salsa and guacamole

The black sisters took over the kitchen

For main course we had an adapted version of Beef Wellington, roast potatoes, green beans and red wine sauce... I forgot to take a picture, but it tasted great, although the potatoes was a bit overdone.

Dessert was a home made Oreo ice cream (Mona style) with raspberry sorbet.

The dessert had an 80'ies look to it, but it sure tasted like 2011.

Partayyyyy!!!

We don't have any pictures of Adam, but he was a real trooper, and didn't seem bothered by the fireworks, he looked like he enjoyed watching the beautiful colors safely behind our bedroom window in the arms of his pappa.

Happy 2011 everbody!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Christmas. We celebrated Christmas eve at my parents home, with my parents, sister, lil-bro and his girlfriend and her 2 daughters.. and a cat and a dog.
We ate our traditional Christmas meal: Stuffed turkey, pork roast, white potatoes, sugar potatoes, red cabbage, cranberry jam, gravy and this year a piece of duck breast snug in, and my mom forgot the sausage (but we ate the sausage the following days, with the rest of the left overs) For dessert - rice pudding with cherry sauce.

I pretended to help mom in the kitchen (I did actually make the dessert - first time ever)

My sister's cat and my brother's dog couldn't wait to dance around the tree with the rest of us.

Next year, hopefully Adam will smile on the Christmas picture as well.

Frida found the perfect spot to hide from the dog.

Adam enjoyed hanging out with his auntie Louise (and chewing on his hand for once)

Singing and "dancing" around the tree.

The great unwrapping.

In Michael's family they have a tradition to get a full stocking on the 25th in morning, and why not continue the present feast? Although I think the tradition only included candy/chocolate/clementine/comic we have expanded a bit, and added a few small presents as well.

Michael's stocking content.

Ehhh - good morning sweetheart!

My stocking content

Adam had a stocking as well, and Santa had brought him a chewy toy and some bibs - he was VERY excited... well, maybe next year.

I also made a stocking for my sister, but I fear that she will kill me if I publish her picture of her holding the stocking. Instead you'll get a picture of this handsome baby, with his new "boxing" gloves.

(My talented sister made them).

Decoration

2010-12-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

As mentioned earlier today, I had planned to force Ann into helping me with the cookie decoration. Luckily she willingly obliged and we had a fun couple of hours trying to make our own small mater pieces. It took a lot longer than anticipated, and I still have many "naked" cookies left, but we had a lot of fun. It's actually harder than one might think, and I must admit that there's a couple of ugly pieces among the creations.

Mommy's tired

2010-12-21T02:20:00.000-08:00

Adam has been a good sleeper from the beginning. He normally only woke up once during the night to be fed. After a while he didn't need a diaper-change either, so I didn't even have to leave my bed. He even began sleeping through the night - let me tell you , it's truly amazing waking up at 7 in the morning and realizing that you have slept through the night (sometimes I would wake up and check if he was breathing - just to make sure.. you know how it is - don't pretend you haven't done the same thing).
But then suddenly he thinks that 3am is the new favorite time to have a good ol' talk. You could almost set your clock to him. 3am! What's up with that? I can't figure out if he's hungry, because he just wakes up, begins crying until I wake up, then he just starts "talking". I give him the pacifier and cuddle him a bit, and he falls right back to sleep. Sometimes I give him a bit to eat, but he seems just as happy without it. I've tried feeding him a bit more during the evening, but it doesn't seem to make difference... well, no, that's a lie... it does make a difference, because now he wakes up, cries, talks... and then he makes thunder in his diaper. And I HAVE TO LEAVE MY WARM BED.
Then once in a while, he suddenly sleeps through then night again. I hate that. It's like I get a little taster on how it could be, and I begin thinking that maybe it will continue, but then the next night is like last night.
He went to bed at 8 slept till 9(he was fed at 7.30-8) - was WIDE AWAKE. Was fed at 10 was still WIDE AWAKE, even though that last feed was done in the dark bedroom, lying down. Fell asleep at 11. Woke up at 1... again at 3 again at 5.30(diaper change) and then again at 8. I'm not happy with that... no not happy at all.

The worst thing is that he's so cute, even at 3am in the morning. I LOOOOOVE that he's "talking".

On another note:
My friend from teaching college is coming over today.. I plan on making her help me with my last Christmas preparations. We're decorating cookies - hopefully they'll look like this:

From pioneer woman

And we'll be making fudge, of course she doesn't know this, but I'm sure she'll be happy to help. I want this done, but I'm so tired today that I know I won't get this done if I'm alone.

Uh, and just because I know that you love to hear about everything (well I don't know.. but I'm sure you do).. I'm now the lucky owner of a gigantic zit... right between my eye brows ... right there in the center... bright and red. I'm sure that little piece of information makes your day a little brighter.

My sister is coming tonight. She'll be here for while - fun!

Can you tell that I'm tired... this must have been the most random post ever... that's what happens when I'm overly tired.. I blabber.

sorry :-)

Have a nice day..

over and out.

Goodbye

Today at church

2010-12-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

Today after church meetings I was talking with Maria - somewhere during our conversation Maria humorously declared that she was an adult.. and she continued .. "so are you.. you are a mother now, that makes you an adult".

I am.. I am an adult. It's so strange, because I don't feel like one. Somehow I feel like I'm fooling everyone. I'm turning 30 next year.. it's not that turning 30 scares me, but when I think about when I was younger and I looked at people who were 30 and married with children, I looked at them as adults, and I guess that means that I really am one too.
Maria's daughter came as we were discussing the subject, and Maria asked her, if she thought that Maria, was old. "no, you're young"... okay, she then asked if she at least thought that she was an adult.. "no, you are young". Isn't that lovely? Maria has definitely trained her daughter well.
But seriously age is such a strange thing. I remember when I was in nursing school (long time ago - a way different story) I had to interview 3 elderly people about being old. I called my grandmother who was 75 at the time. I had a list of questions to ask her, I can't remember any of them, nor her answers, but I do remember that she mentioned that she thought it felt a bit strange to interviewed about being old, because she didn't feel old at all.
So maybe it's not that strange that I think I'm fooling everyone into believing that I'm adult now, when my own grandmother at 75 felt the same way.

Except the other night I felt very old.. I guess it all depends on the situation. We went on our first date (post baby). We went to the cinema to watch Harry Potter (oh yeah.. very mature.. right!). Okay, so maybe the movie didn't make me feel old, but being at the cinema did. I was irritated by people talking during the movie, a was finding the seats uncomfortable. I was missing my coffee-table, because how are you suppose to balance your drink, popcorn, candy,(and coat and handbag) in a seat with only one cup-holder? I felt a bit like an old lady who would have preferred her own couch in her own living room.(I did enjoy the movie though).

Age is a strange thing!

Adam picture spam

2010-12-16T04:10:00.000-08:00

Adam got his 3 months shots Friday. He was a real trooper. He had to get 2 injections. He hardly registered the first one, and only cried a bit during the second one. He was a little uneasy in the afternoon and a bit drowsy - but that was it. He's the best baby EVER! He had a little band-aid on each thigh.

We went to the Christmas party at Church and of course Adam was wearing his Christmas hat - it says "my first Christmas" - notice his bib - oh yes we have a drooler.

.. and he chews on everything.

Look who's found his toes:

His first boo-boo - he hit his head on a shelve over the changing table. He does this new thing where he kicks and presses away from everything he hits his feet on - including us. So sometimes when lifting him up he presses himself away from us.. and become very tall. That can be dangerous with shelves hanging overhead.

I thought it would go blue, but it's hardly noticeable today - so I guess that is was a minor boo-boo.

O tannenbaum

2010-12-16T03:38:00.000-08:00

The living room in our new home is a bit (a tiny bit) bigger than our old living room, and that means that we have room for a larger tree this year.

My cousin sells home grown trees. We managed to find a pretty one, even though it was dark by the time we managed to get out of the door, and I was walking around in ankle deep snow in my sneakers (yup - I need some boots) and I couldn't feel my toes. Adam missed out on all the fun - he was sleeping in the warm car (right next to the tree patch).

Yesterday the tree was ready to come into it's new home... our living room. I love decorating the tree, and I love a tree full of color and fun ornaments.

Every year I've made three Christmas ornaments. One with my name, one with Michael's and one with the year - different color and style each year.

But this year I had to make four.. because baby Adam needs his own. But my friend Lene beat me to it. She had made a custom ball for Adam. So one less for me to do. Her's is so much prettier than any I have ever made. She used different color glitter for the name and decoration, and her ability to write in glitter clearly surpasses mine - but I tried my best to complete the set with our names as well.

my favorite bird with ear-warmers - cute!

There seem to be growing mushrooms on our three.

Every tree should have a purple motorcycle on it... right?

Owly Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Hi there handsome

2010-12-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas at our house

2010-12-06T07:06:00.001-08:00

BiG BoY

2010-12-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

November 22nd, just a bit over 10 weeks old, Adam started using diapers size 3.

And yesterday he rolled over from his stomach to his back. I think it was a more accidental than conscious role, but either way.. he's getting so big.
The first weeks of his life, I was longing for him to be bigger, more alert and stronger.. and now here he is.. wearing his size 3 diapers.. all grown up, well, almost all grown up. I teared up a bit yesterday as I was applauding his role. I know that it sounds silly, but THIS IS GOING TO FAST. He's almost 3 months old now.. he's no longer a newborn.

Winter wonderland and a wonderful weekend

2010-12-05T05:54:00.000-08:00

We've had an amazing weekend.
Last week I was talking to my good friend who had just had a little baby girl, she lives 2½ hours away in Odense, and she asked me when we would come down to see them. I answered vaguely that I didn't know, but hopefully soon. As I hung up the phone I felt a longing for my dear friends who are spread across the country, and I was a bit saddened about the distance that separates us.
I looked at Mr Michael who was sitting next to me, and I quickly explained to him the plan that was forming in my head. As the amazing husband that he is, he nodded along and agreed with me, that it indeed was time for a little trip.
I quickly phoned up my friend again and without many manners I invited ourselves to their house (and what an amazing house it is!). After hanging up with her, I dialed again, this time to my dear friend Lene in Copenhagen. Once again I invited my little family to a friends house. I don't know if my eagerness left them with no opportunity to decline, but they both agreed that I was a wonderful idea.
Our plan was to leave for Odense friday afternoon, spend the evening and night there, and then in the morning we would continue our journey to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen we would spend a couple of hours with my brother(+family) and my sister. In the afternoon, we would invade Lenes house and stay there until evening where we would head home to Aalborg (5ish hour drive).

Friday came, and we packed up our little baby in our little car and we drove away. It has been snowing for a couple of weeks now (on and off) and the forecast was promising loads of snow one minute and clear weather the next. We decided to take the chance, make sure we had plenty of time, and then just focus on enjoying the journey instead of stressing over snow and traffic.

The roads were clear and the trip went well. Baby Adam almost made it the entire way (sleeping as always). ½ hour before our arrival he woke up... and he was HUNGRY!. We had to stop so he could eat, judging from the decibel level of his scream, he wouldn't be able to wait the half hour. Of course there were no rest stop so he left the motorway at some random exit hoping to find a parking spot. But the exit lead on to a road with trees and snow piles along the road, and no where to stop the car, so we ended up driving around for 15-20 minutes before we found a place to stop. That's just so typical - we might as well had continued instead of delaying our trip ½ and hour.

We found Elisabeth and Martins home (they moved into their newly build home a couple of months ago, so we hadn't been there before).
The house was beautifully decorated and the baby was so tiny and beautiful. It was crazy to see a baby who was less than 3 months younger than Adam. She was so tiny and he looked so big, and alert. I cannot believe how much he has grown and developed during these 3 months.
Martin and Elisabeth are the perfect hosts. They had made delicious dinner, and we really enjoyed a relaxing and fun evening with them. With only a two week old baby they had still managed to decorate their house, make dinner, dessert, look awake (most of the time) and entertain their guests... AND the house was spotless... AND they have a 3 year-old tornado running around. Super humans! That's all I have to say.

In the morning we left for Copenhagen. We had brunch at my brothers place, and enjoyed seeing him and his family and my sister again. They were all here for Adam's blessing, so it hadn't been long since the last time.

At 14 o'clock we went to Lene's home. She had arranged a Christmas candy making day. All of our friends were there. I meet Maria's fiancée (he's approved!) saw Lene's two darlings, Mona's beautiful girls, I caught up with Anne, heard about Lisbeth's doings, ate to much marzipan and chocolate, and enjoyed being surrounded by the amazing people I love and miss.
I vote for moving Copenhagen closer to Aalborg.. All in favor say "Ay".

Our car's to tiny!

These were all the pictures I took this weekend with my phone. I was far to busy enjoying myself instead.

Do you know what I love?

2010-11-30T01:31:00.000-08:00

I LOOOOVE returning from grocery shopping and seeing this pretty sight...

oh.. and I LOOOOVE the two handsome guys on the picture as well.

Adam's blessing

2010-11-29T05:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday the 20th we had Adam blessed. In our church we don't practice infant baptism, but our babies get a special blessing by one who holds the priesthood - normally the father. This is normally done during sacrament meeting on Sundays in front of the entire congregation. We chose an untraditional approach. We had the blessing Saturday evening with only family and friends in my parent's home.

I'm so happy we did it that way, it was a special and wonderful day.

We started by singing "I am a child of God", had an prayer and then Michael's niece and two nephews (and their mummy) sang "I know that my savior loves me" , then the priesthood holders in our family gathered around Adam and his father pronounced the special blessing...

.. and then we ate!

The children singing, and my nephew Vitus in front - wondering about what everybody are looking at.

Michael's parents with the their 15th grandchild (I think)

Auntie Louise with Adam

Adam in front of the "Adam-cake"

I would love to say the WE made the dinner, but I must be honest and say that my mum made dinner, and we were her happy little helpers.

The menu:

A delicious carrot soup with bacon and parsley topping.
Bread

For the main course:

Pork roast with rosemary/thyme/orange seasoning.
Potatoes
Gravy
Red Cabbage/orange salad
Waldorf salad
Oven roasted carrots and butter nut squash

Dessert:

CAKE!
Cocoa-coconut-cakes
Raspberry cakes (hindbærsnitter)
Cream puffs with chocolate cream or vanilla cream filling - drizzled with melted dark chocolate
And the Adam cake, I had spent all week making! (my first attempt) It was cocoa-sugar-cake layered with white chocolate mousse and blueberry mousse. Covered in marshmallow fondant.

We are so thankful for our family who helped make this a special occasion. We love our little baby boy (who is getting SO big already) and all the smiles he gives us.

Shhhyyzzz baby's sleeping

2010-11-22T03:30:00.000-08:00

We've had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. Little baby Adam was blessed, so we cooked, cleaned, celebrated and had a good time all the weekend. Adam saw his paternal grandparents for the first time, and he mostly spent the weekend being passed around from arm to arm.
He didn't sleep as much as usual, except during the nights where he slept from midnight to 7am (I LOVE THIS BABY!) Right now he's sleeping right here in my arm. I've missed him a bit these days where I've almost only had him in my arms when he was feeding. So once he has caught up with his sleep, and I have caught up with him, I'll come back and post about the blessing and everything that came with it.

Maternity madness

2010-11-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

I've heard so many mothers talk about their brains turning into a messy unusable object after having children.. at least for a while. I must admit that I thought that it sounded a bit exaggerated and as a bad excuse for common forgetfulness.
Once again today I had to eat my own words when I was drying my legs after my morning shower and realized that I had only shaved one leg. The most worrying thing wasn't that I had only shaved one leg, but that I couldn't even remember that I actually HAD shaved that one leg.
I often find myself going up the stairs for one thing and coming down with another. Or opening the computer and surfing around for ½ an hour, then closing the computer, and only then do I remember that I had a particular task that I needed to do on there, after which I open the computer again... and yes.. sometimes I end up closing the computer once again without getting my task done.
I get quite a lot of sleep as my baby is the most perfect little boy who (most of the time) understands that mummy needs her sleep, so lack of sleep can't be my excuse - I guess my brain is just taking a time-out, and that's actually fine with be for now.

Rocket

2010-11-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

It takes me a while, but I manage to get a few of my projects done. I found this website with so many ideas that my head is spinning, my living room is a mess of unfinished projects (and my wallet is empty).
I found a beautiful mobile and I just had to make one for our little baby.

This is my version:

I can't wait to hang it in Adam's room. I'm even planning to make a few for this year's Christmas market.

ArE yOu ReaDy...

2010-10-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

fOr MoRe PicTuREs?
Adam is playing on his play-mat every day. He's much more awake and active now, and he just loves lying on his back looking at his toys and well... the ceiling. But I alway try to put him on his stomach so he can train his neck, but he's not liking that so much. But I was lucky to get some happy pictures. He's getting really good at holding his head. Our little baby is already getting so big. (you should read this post about the same topic)

I sent my sister some pictures the other day, and she mentioned that Adam already looks very different from when she saw him a short while back. So I figured that was as good a reason as any, to spam our blog with Adam pictures, just to update you all.

Adam sleeps outside in the stroller for his morning nap. Today when I went to check on him, and to wake him up, he was already awake - he was just lying there in his warm and snuggly buggy looking at the light reflecting in the hood.

I took him in and unwrapped him from his warm "bag" and he was all smiles. Oh, some days I wish I had a warm buggy where I could take a nice long nap, and wake up well rested and happy.

I hope the pictures satisfied the picture hungering readers out there - not that I'm only sharing the pictures for your sake.. it's MY PLEASURE to share pictures of my lovely baby.

I wish you all a nice, warm and cuddly weekend (it's just around the corner).

I do get a little bit done around here

2010-10-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

We've bought a Baby Björn carrier. Adam is still a bit small to spend too much time in the carrier, but we've used it a couple of times. As he's getting bigger I'm sure we'll use it more, so I decided to give it a go to make a cover for the cold winter days (I know you can buy one, but they're way to expensive).

I'm not sure the result deserves a design award, but I'm fairly satisfied and I'm sure it will keep our little baby warm and cozy.

A visitor

2010-10-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was on the phone with the fabulous Lene I spotted this little fellow outside our door.
I hurried and took a picture (from inside the living room), little did I know that he would stay for a couple of hours, eating, sleeping and enjoying the afternoon sun.

Later I went outside to get a better picture without my dirty windows.

Cute little winter guest (I have now declared it winter - it's too cold to be autumn).

Coziness.. and a bit of cuteness.

2010-10-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Even though there seems to be less hours in the day now after Adam have joined our family, I have managed to find time to do some small things in the house. Now that I'm home all day long, I have plenty of time to look at our house and decor, and I have found things lacking... many things. For instance I have found our living room to lack comfort and coziness, an I have made it my mission to bring in the coziness (is that a word?). First step - dining chairs.

I bought these chairs 8-9 years ago in IKEA for nothing ... well not nothing, but almost. They are fine chairs, but not exactly living room cozy chairs... more summerhouse kitchen chairs. We have tried to make them more comfortable with a cushion. A white cushion. 2 days after we bought the cushions we had Michael's niece and nephews over for spaghetti bolognese. The cushions haven't been entirely white ever since.

But now I've changed them completely. We went to IKEA (for once) and I found some beautiful fabric (it's actually Christmas fabric, but it's not very Christmassy).

Look what I did:

I think the result is so pretty - if I may say so myself.. and I may. Yay!

Cosiness: 1

Coldness: 0

PS. Look who just found his thumb

We LOOOVE Family

2010-10-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my older brother and his family and my sister came to visit. They all live in Copenhagen (4-5 hours and an expensive drive+bridge fair away) and hadn't been able to come sooner. We were thrilled to show them our little baby boy.
My sister couldn't wait to get to hold Adam and my brother looked like a VERY proud uncle the first time he held him. Adam is my brother's first nephew (the only other kids in the family are his own).

Look at these two!

Now almost the entire family has seen the little wonder. Except for my younger brother and most importantly, Michael's parent who are living in Stockholm right now (but they have seen him on webcam). The rest saw him when we were in Norway (but we forgot to take pictures, we only have one of Adam's aunt Janett and cousin Celine, but the rest saw him.. I promise.. even though we don't have any proof).

We love our family, we only wished they lived closer to us, so they really could be a part of our lives.

Labor of Love

2010-10-07T03:51:00.000-07:00

Adam has received 3 beautiful hand made blankets. They are all beautiful with their own distinct style and color, and I'm sure that they are all made with love.

I know how much work that has been put into making these beautiful blankets and I hope that one day Adam as well will appreciate these women for these labors of love.

My sister made a colorful and fun blanket. It's made of wool and is "bumpy" and delightful to touch. I'm sure Adam appreciates the warm blanket when he's sitting in his chair entertaining me, while I prepare and eat my breakfast in the mornings.

Janette's beautiful blanket is so pretty and exquisite, and is soft to touch. I love the colors and the fine details.

Sarah's blanket is big and airy. Today we're using it to prevent Adam from getting the sun in his face while sleeping outside.

I'm so thankful for the 3 blankets, and for everything else we have received. Overwhelmingly many people, both friends and family has given us clothes, toys, necessities and sweet thoughts and wishes, and we truly do appreciate all of it. Thank you.

We're on our way now...

2010-10-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

I know that my last post was my own personal pity-party. But hey, I think a pity-party is allowed once in a while.. right?
Luckily I'm one of those people who just need to let it out, and then everything is fine again (well, most of the time at least). It has actually taken my husband a while to figure that out.. poor thing... in the beginning he was concerned for days, after I had been sad or had a tantrum (yes, I do have tantrums... read Emily's comment from this post) because he didn't understand that in my process of letting out steam or tears I was actually taking out the trash, so often everything is alright, I just need to let it out - no need to worry.

I really feel that we're on our way now. Even though Adam has had a couple of days where he felt he needed to demonstrate his lung capacity, I can feel that I react differently than I would have a week or 2 ago. I'm feeling more confident, and not as overwhelmed and tired as in the beginning. That's a really good feeling. I', sure that days will come where I'll need to let it all out.. but for now.. we're on our way.

No post without a picture.
This is from our trip to Norway - see the ferry in the background.
We went to Norway on Adam's 2 week birthday - crazy! but it went well.

I'm an old mom

2010-09-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I realized that I'm the typical older mom. I'm overprotective, I'm overly concerned and I just know too much.
I've always shaken my head a bit when I saw the typical 30ish first time mother who seemed stressed and insecure all the time. And suddenly I've realized that I'm one of them (even though I'm not even 30 yet).
I've read too many books about pregnancy and babies. I've googled just about everything there is to know, and instead of giving me the strength and knowledge I need to take care of a newborn, it's made me insecure and unable to rely on my instincts.
I was talking with my own mom when it suddenly dawned on me that I'm exactly what I thought I wouldn't be. I mentioned it to my mom, and she said, that she had thought the same thing just before I had said it out loud. She had been thinking that it's really different having your first child when you're 18 than when you're 29.

I get so angry with myself when I stress about EVERYTHING instead of seeing all the sighs that clearly states that everything is all right. Adam seems happy and content. He rarely cries (but when he finally does cry I think that everything is wrong and that I'm failing as a mother), he eats, he gains weight, he delivers several "good" diapers every day, he sleeps 3-4 hours at a time... so why is it that I'm constantly afraid of not having enough milk?

Sigh! I love my life as a new mother, but I just wished I would take it easy and trust my instincts.. because so far, I seem to be doing just fine.

Adam & Pappa

2010-09-21T04:43:00.000-07:00

The many faces of the waking-up process

2010-09-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

It's a show every time Adam is waking up - the many facial expressions are to die for!

Welcome to the world baby Adam

2010-09-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Adam

Saturday the 11th of September we welcomed our little baby boy to the world.

He was born at 5.34pm after only 12½ hours after the I felt the first contraction.

He is absolutely perfect and we love him. We feel so grateful that we were given the privilege of being parents to this special little boy.

We've anticipated his arrival for so long, and now he's finally here, with everything that includes: sleepless nights, insecurities, pain (he's a hungry little boy) and worries - and we LOVE it.

Cloudy

2010-09-10T01:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was complaining about my left contact lens. My vision was cloudy and irritated, and I was going crazy.

I have this thing about my eyes. If they are irritated I feel bad.. I feel like sleeping and doing nothing else. (I know that I'm a drama queen, but I guess my eyes are sensitive that way).
Well, finally I've had enough (at around 4pm), and I went to take out my lenses and put on my glasses instead. As I tried to take out my left lens I just had to slap myself.
I wasn't wearing any!
I had my right lens in alright, but no lens in my left eye... the cloudy vision eye.
Yep, that's me. I'm way on top of things... yup.

Introducing the newest member of our family

2010-09-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

I already love you, my dear dish washer.

Welcome to our family!

It's time to reveal the winner

2010-09-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

A while back.... well.. quite a while back we opened a poll here in our little blog.
We needed your help to decide on which stroller we should buy.
The choices were:
The green one:

or the red/black one

We have finally made our decicion, and the winner is:

Ta-da-daaaaaa!!!!

We're so sorry, it's not that we didn't appreciate your help - we just couldn't decide... there were so many colors and designs. We panicked!

We considered so many options:

We almost decided on the green one, but then I thougt it was a bit pale in the color.

We then considered this

.. but then Michael feel in love with this...

and then everything went wrong and the evil stroller company added new colors (even more to choose from!)

We were intrigued by the new colors, and suddenly we feel in love with "graphitto", our final choice.

We just recieved an e-mail informing us that it will be delivered at our door step tomorrow.

I'm so exited, and a little nervous - maybe the color is horrible in real life. We'll just have wait and see.

Thank you so much for your help.

Today is the day...

2010-09-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

...we've been waiting for. But alas! no sigh of baby yet.
Throughout the pregnancy I've tried not to focus too much on the actual due date, but it's really difficult not to.
I guess we'll still have to wait patiently for a little while, all I know for sure is that our baby boy will arrive on his BIRTHDAY.

B-day pictures

2010-09-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Mister...

2010-08-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

.....Michael - Haappy birrrth-day tooooo youuuu.

Happy birthday sweetie - I can't believe you're 30!

You're soooo old!! (Love you babe)

What I've been doing

2010-08-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

I've been preparing a couple of things for baby.
I've made linen for the baby comforter and small quilted play blanket.
and yesterday I made this:

There's a bell inside so it jingles when you toss it around - cute.. rigth?... RIGHT?

Here's the comforter:

it's made from old vintage adult size linen - Iv'e added buttons and the tree:

I haven't taken any pictures of the play blanket.. it'll come later.

Nuestra casita

2010-08-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

As promised here's a look into our new home. (WARNING! I might have gone a bit overboard with the amount of pictures - sorry)

Welcome in

You almost walk right into the staircase when you enter our house. But turn slightly left and this is what you'll see:

But let's turn a bit more to the left, into the kitchen:

I love our red cord on the lamp.. just a little detail.

HELLO!

Let's continue into the living room:

I'm sorry, but I couldn't be bothered to clear my sowing mess. So here you have it, fabric, machine, needles and a whole lot more. (Michael is very patient with my mess - he looooves me soooo much).

Lo and behold - ze garden.

Let's go upstairs.

I love this lamp!

Baby's room - it's not entirely done yet, but the changing station is the most important feature in here, as baby will be sleeping in our room in the beginning.

The dots on the wall are actually coasters.. from IKEA of course.

My sister made these cool shoes, they are so tiny, but I hope that they'll fit.

Our spare room - office/guest bedroom (and yes.. the curtains have different colors - recycled from our old place)

The loo :-)

The crib isn't normally placed by the bet.. not yet.. but I figured I might as well show you how it'll be in a week or two. In the mean time it's by the window.

Look, there's room for a chair in the corner.. maybe this one:

Uhh.. and in time I'll get this bed:

But I want a dish washer and and a washing machine before buying new furniture.

So there you have - nuestra casita nueva.

Goodbye

2010-08-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

Today is the day we say our final farewell to our dear grandmother - Martha Katrine Falden.
She closed her eyes for the last time Tuesday morning - it was time for her to go home. She turned 95 this July, and had lived a long good life. The last couple of years had been marked by her dementia, and she was only a shell of the strong and powerful woman she used to be. We'll remember her as she was before.
My grandfather died 13 years ago, and I'm so happy that they can finally be together again.
Do you know what?
Families are forever - and we will see her again. Happy and strong as she used to be.

Birth tub

2010-08-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

So as I wrote earlier, we are planning a homebirth. As there are no means of pain relief ( like epidurals and so forth) when you give birth in your home, other than the midwife's acupuncture skills and Michaels back rubs, I figured that warm water probably will be most appreciated in my hours of pain.
You can buy a birthing pool, but they are rather expensive, and as I'm not even sure that I'll end up using it or not (I've never given birth before, and maybe the thought of splashing around in a tub isn't what I want when I'm in the middle of it) we searched for a cheaper solution.

This is what we found:

Michael so kindly offered to give a demonstration of how a birth will look in the pool.
(I'm very proud of him)

Our little kiddy pool would probably work fine, but at our last appointment with the midwife she told us, that they actually had a tub we could borrow for FREE!! If it was available.
It was... this looks so much better:

Look at how calm and relaxed I look.. this is exactly how I'm going to look
when I calmly and painlessly push out our baby boy... right?

We had a little test today, just so we'll (read: Michael) will know how to prepare everything when the show starts.

Celebration

2010-08-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today we had a little celebration in our new home. We had invited friends and family to come celebrate my graduation, my birthday, our new home and Michaels up-coming (30th!!) birthday.
We were around 30 people, I had been a little worried about the space and seating, but there was room enough for everyone. Luckily the weather was okay (just a little sprinkling once in a while) so some of our guest could enjoy our garden and the less crowded surroundings.
We had started the preparations yesterday. I had found a new lasagna recipe I wanted to try out. The Pioneer Woman claimed she had the best lasagna recipe ever, and who was I to say otherwise? So Michael and I spent the afternoon yesterday trying out this recipe. We didn't bake it right away, but stored it overnight in the fridge (storing lasagna for 30 people in a small fridge is no easy task - but we managed).

Photo courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

Today before the guests arrived we started baking the dish and the smell of deliciousness spread all over the house. I hate making food for other people than Michael and I, I always feel insecure and overwhelmed by my own expectations, so as I could smell the lasagna I felt a tiny bit of relief. I know that nice smelling food is no guarantee for nice tasting food, but it's a good start.

The guests seemed to like it, and a couple even asked for the recipe, and the only leftovers we have is the extra portion I made last night, when I suddenly feared that I hadn't made enough. (lucky it freezes well, and will be perfect for the upcoming weeks, both pre- and post labor, where cooking won't be on my top ten list of things to do).

We had a nice evening, and we even got some presents! Yay - I love presents. We got some nice flowers for our garden and a hedgeclipper, some things for our house and some things for baby.

I love this baby bath tub, it's so cleaver! We got this in beautiful blue, and I'm so exited to use it when baby comes.

Even though we had prepared many things before hand, and was taking it easy today, I'm still very tired now. I'm so happy that we took the time to celebrate the many things in our life, before the next big thing comes to take over the celebrations, but now I'm ready to take it easy for a while. I hope that's okay - I think I deserve it... right?

Baby mountain

2010-08-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

This week we had another appointment with the midwife. Baby and belly were checked, and everything looked fine. I'm so happy that our little boy finally had decided to get into the right position - now just stay head down, please! So things are looking well for our plan to have a home birth.
The midwife said that baby is doing well, and she estimated him to weigh about 3200grams... oh dear. He's going to be a big boy, with 4 weeks to go (+/-) I'm sure he'll be a plus 4kg baby (maybe I should think twice about the natural home birth idea).

It shouldn't come as a chock to me that he's big, because my bump is now to big to be called a bump... it's a mountain!

Today we had a little photo session with one of our good friends Lone, and here are some of the results:

The end is near

2010-08-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Today we went for a drive that took us out of the city and into more rural parts of the country (you don't have to drive far to do that).
It was a beautiful drive, but I found myself being filled with at little bit of sadness. Why? you ask. Well, because of what I saw. I saw this:

So many of the fields were already harvested, and it really made me realize that the end is near... the end of summer that is.

Don't get me wrong, I really love the fall, but summer has barely just started, and now it's already ending.

This summer has been so busy and time has run by so fast, so I'm simply not ready to let it go yet.

AND... now we have a garden.. so I just need a bit more summer, so I can get the chance to enjoy sitting outside in the sun reading a book.

Happy late summer to all of you.

PS. We're almost settled and unpacked in our now house, pictures will come soon.

This one goes out to the one I love..

2010-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

This guy is simply amazing. He might not be a perfect man, but he's the perfect man for me.

He's so incredible helpful and diligent in everything he does, and I just love that he's a mister fix-it.

As you know we're moving, and from the day we received the affirming letter, he began working. He has tidied up our storage room and he has packed so many boxes. His energy seems never ending and at the same time he's there for me, taking care of me, and telling me to take a nap, relax, read my book and so forth, when he can see that I'm struggling to keep up.

This morning I woke up around my usual early morning hour.. 5 o'clock. I normally wake up with heartburn at that hour. Most days I go to the bathroom, go back to bed, puff my pillows up high and fall back to sleep. But this morning was different, I couldn't settle down again, and the heartburn.. well.. it kept burning. I finally got up and went to the living room and browsed the internet. At 6.45 I decided to go back to bed, I was tired and we had gone to bed late last night, so I was hoping for an hour or two more of that sweet sleep. Luckily I feel asleep again almost instantly, only to wake up 15 minutes later to the sound of the alarm.

I had forgotten that we had reserved the laundry room for the 7 o'clock cycle, so we had to get up to get it done. Before I knew it Michael was up and dressed, and ready to walk out the door (I must have dozed off again) I asked him if he needed my help.

Bless his heart.. he didn't.

He came back into the room after what felt like 5 minutes, and started pulling up the curtain. Honestly, I was a little irritated. "Why couldn't he just let me sleep for just a little bit?" He sat on the bed and stroked my legs and started talking. He told me that the first 4 machines were in the dryer and that he would go down again in a bit to fold them and dry the last load (yes, I know that 5 machines sounds like a lot, but it's more than 2 weeks worth of laundry with linen, towels and clothes - we just don't wash that often).

As he talked I began coming to my senses, and realized that I must have slept longer than I thought.

It turned out that I had slept for an hour and a half, and that Michael not only had done almost all the laundry by the time I woke up, he had also finished packing the kitchen.

I told him that he was a star, and he said that so was I. I really don't feel that I'm pulling my load with all this moving and packing stuff, and I feel a little sad that I just don't have the energy (it seems like the tiredness that I hadn't felt in my 1st and 2nd trimester is finally catching up to me). I said to him that I didn't feel like a star, and asked him why he though I was one. He said "you are a star, because you are carrying our baby".

I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world, and even though I laughed him off a bit, saying that I wouldn't always be carrying a baby, and yet he assured that he would always see me as a star.

Despite my early morning, it turned out to be a really good start to a good day.

There are so many reasons why I love this man, he's has so many small and quirky sides, and somehow I find it all very adorable.

He loves watching lame teenage movies, and he laughs out loud... really loud during all the "fun" parts.
He talks to my bump, and talks to our little guy about things that they'll be doing together soon.
He has a story for every scar and scratch he has on his body.
He "talks" with his mom several times every week on msn, and he almost always does what she tells him to. (last night I received a foot rub, after his mother had told him that she was sure that I would like that.. I did!)
When he cooks dinner, he's always as proud as a cat who has caught it's first mouse, even though it's just hotdogs or spaghetti.. and even though he often cooks.
When I tickle or scratches his back he always gets goosebumps.

I'm just so thankful for him, and he truly is my STAR

Moving out

2010-07-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy since I've finished school. Two days before my final exam, we received a letter with a offer for a new apartment. We've wished for a bigger place, and were on the waiting list.. but as we remembered we were nowhere near the top of the list.. but apparently things moved fast.
We were offered a 3 bedroom townhouse (I'm not sure that's the right word.. but a house that's attached to other houses.. rækkehus).
It has a small garden AND room for a washing machine. It's weird.. during my pregnancy that's been one of the things I've really focused on. I NEED a washer, how could I be a good and happy mother without a washer? It's rather silly actually, because all we have to do now, is go down the stairs and into the laundry room, and here we can wash up till 5 machines at a time.. all we have to do is reserve them before hand. But in my pregnant mind this is way to complicated. Where should I put the baby while I wash? Well, now I don't have to think about that, because WE'RE MOVING! Soon... next week!
Do you want to see the new place? Well, I don't have any pictures, but I do have a floor plan.. which I've played with and "put" our funiture into. (To much time on my hand? no way!)

GRADUATION

2010-07-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

By the way... I've graduated! I'm now a teacher.

It's been fun, and it's so weird to think about that I'm no longer a student. Beeing a student has been a part of my identity for almost my entire life, even when I wasn't studying I was just "in between" .. but now I'm done!

The crazy part is that now I'm done.. I'm on maternity leave! Yay! I don't even have to look for a job or anything, I can just enjoy being done!

Everybody are looking in the other direction except for me and my "possy".. we were trying to give it up for M the great photographer.

Ok, so it's not easy taking pictures, but this is me.. getting my diploma.

26.6 - my class!

Good luck everybody - and take care :-)

Ok - maybe not tomorrow, but...

2010-07-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the rest of the birthday.

I had told Lene that I didn't want a birthday present, it was enough for me that they all would spend their day with me (and pay for their own dinner at Hard rock), but she cheated and gave me this little "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant" badge. Very cute, but unfortunately not 100% true (well, the pregnant part is true of course)

We asked to get our starters and mains at the same time, but it looked crazy with all that food on the table at the same time. I was almost embarrassed. I ordered at Cobb salad and Maria and I split a "jumbo combo" starter.. and we didn't even eat half of the starter and I didn't finish the salad.

One of Mona's beautiful girls were sick, so she was unable to come, but had asked us to come over to her house after dinner. We had planned to go to Lene's, but of course we wanted to include Mona in the fun, so after Hard Rock, Lene and Anne passed Lene's house on the way to pick up the lovely dessert Lene had prepared, and then we went to Mona's.

It was so nice and fun to see everybody again. I love living in Aalborg, but I really miss the girls in Copenhagen, but I'm so thankful that we could spend a nice day together.

They kept their promise and didn't buy me a birthday present, instead I got an "graduation and congratulations 'cos you're having a baby"-present - these beautiful earrings! I love them and they really enhance the blue in my eyes (wink wink) ... except not today - because my eyes are brow (a long story.. but they really are)

(I stole the picture form Lene's blog - I'm sure she doesn't mind - thanks Lene)

Thank you so much girls (Lene, Anne, Maria, Lisbeth and Mona) and Sis' (Louise) and wonderful hubby (Magnificent Michael) for spending the day with me. Love you all.

Ma B-day

2010-06-25T14:27:00.001-07:00

When we were invited to the wedding, I saw a chance to prolong our stay in CPH because I really wanted to celebrate my birthday there, with all my dear friends. I informed them that I was coming, and hoped that they would celebrate the day with me. They did! They wanted to spend the day with me... am I the luckiest girl in the world or what?
I didn't make any great plans, all I wanted was a boat tour of the Copenhagen canals and dinner at Hard Rock. My dear husband, my sister, and 5 friends were all willing to oblige to my humble birthday desires. Yay!
Michael woke me up early... EARLY in the morning with a present and homemade b-day card and a song. apparently my sister (w/whom we were staying) heard us (even though M was whispering the song) and she got up (EARLY). She had bought a big flag and came into the living room waving the flag, carrying balloons and singing a birthday song to me (you might discuss how much singing it was.. because as I said.. it was EARLY).

We ate breakfast and the I passed out and slept 2 hours... It was my birthday so I was allowed.

In the early afternoon we went to Nyhavn - one the oldest parts of CHP - where the Canal Boat tour started.

Here we enjoyed the magnificent weather, ate fresh peas and waited for the rest of the party to join us.

Maria, Lene and her darling boy Samuel joined us on the tour. Lene had bought lemonade and rolls, and we had bought/brought delicious Summerbird chocolate covered marshmallows (flødeboller).

I love taking the tour, and when I lived in CPH I would take the tour a couple of times every summer. The beautiful buildings, the sea, the atmosphere.. Love it!

The tour was just as I remembered, and it was a pleasure for me to be able to show M that part of CPH.

Thank you Copenhagen.. and freinds and family who joined me.

Tomorrow I'll write about Hard Rock, and the rest of the day.. but for now I bid you adieu.

Absolute Wedding 2010

2010-06-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

Friday we went to our nations great capital in preparation of my brother's wedding. Christian and Iben were getting married on Saturday the 19th of June. It was planned to be a small family wedding, with the ceremony at the City Hall and a small dinner at a delicious and exclusive restaurant. They are both very low key, but as the date came close they both felt like turning it up a notch.. just a little bit. Iben bought a beautiful dress, and flowers for a simple bouquet. My mum made a layered wedding cake and they brought champagne and strawberries for a small reception after the wedding where and all their friends were present to join the celebration.
Iben looked beautiful and the boys were as handsome as ever.

The weather forecast had predicted rain in the afternoon, and as the reception was held outside we were all a bit anxious, but luckily it held dry and the rain came just as we were getting in the cars to drive to the restaurant, it really was perfect timing.
The wedding dinner was held at "den røde cottage" - the red cottage in beautiful surroundings in a forest near the coast. We had preordered our five course menu. I had decided on fried scallops with small bacon bits and a pea/mint mousse as first course. A fresh delicious asparagus with asparagus shavings and browned butter as second. Steak of veal with different kinds of onion as third course. A dish called "carrot" - which turned out to be a dessert. Two tiny pieces of carrot cake, with small dops of creme cheese and mini carrot shavings on top and some sour berries (I can't remember the name, and I have never tasted them before). My fifth and final course was called "chocolate" and turned out to be my second dessert (yum) a delicious small square of a layered cake with different kinds of chocolate fillings on top of a crispy nut pastry. I didn't take any pictures of the courses.. but I did manage to get one of the cute small rolls that accompanied the meal.

It was a good day and I'm sure Christian and Iben were happy. The entire day (except for the part where we were sweating and running around like crazy in the morning to get ready, and driving across Copenhagen in great haste just in order to be late to the actual ceremony... so we weren't actually present as they got married!) was very calm, and nice and filled with and relaxing atmosphere.

Congratualtions Iben & Christian!

Exam

2010-06-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is most definitely not my favorite time of the year. I'm looking forward to next summer, where hopefully I'll be enjoying the nice weather, my freedom and our little baby, instead of stressing over papers and exams.

Whenever I pass an exam I know that I'm one step closer to my graduation, and a sense of relief and strangely... or maybe not that strangely, a sense of extreme tiredness overwhelms me.

I passed my second exam today. This exam was different than all the others as this was a creative exam as well as a theoretic. I've spend more time preparing for this one exam than any other in my entire life, because I've used so much time getting my products and display ready.

Do you want to see pictures?

I've crocheted a picnic in alternative materials as duck-tape, cling film, rope, plastic bags and many other interesting materials.

In case you're wondering... yes I have napped a bit this afternoon.. ah yes, I can almost smell the freedom.

Just wish me luck on my two remaining exams.

Am I the only one?

2010-05-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who was sobbing 5 minutes into "UP" - the Disney/Pixar animation? I've wanted to see it since it came out, but just never came around to it. Well, today Michael suggested we rented it (we can rent movies directly from our tv - yay... we'll never leave the house AGAIN!). I have so many other things to do, but hadn't slept very well last night, so I decided that I needed to lounge on the couch feeling sorry for myself.. and what better way to do that, than to watch a movie at the same time?

The movie started so well, cute as a button, and 5 minutes in I WAS SOBBING. I cuddled into M while blowing my nose and wiping my eyes.
I want a multi colored house and an adventure book!
I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones or the lack of sleep, but I cried on and off through the entire movie.

I know this movies is old news, but it was really sweet - if you haven't seen it - do!

Baby countdown

2010-05-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

100 days to go! (assuming that baby will arrive right on the date... and he probably won't) But still that's so crazy. I really feel that time is flying by, which is great, because I'm sure that I'll have plenty of time to be impatient before baby decides to join us "on the other side".
Today I had my second doctor's appointment. I was really nervous. I don't know why, because I'm feeling great, but I can't help being a little worried about everything. Maybe it's because I hope to be able to have a home birth, and they won't let me if there's anything irregular. So I was relived to learn that my blood pressure and hemoglobin level was normal. I've only gained 2kg since January and there was no glucose in my urine (there you have it.. I share everything). I listened to baby's heartbeat, and it was just perfect.
I really love to be pregnant, and I'm so happy that everything seems to be going well... I feel baby kick several times every day.. Michael can even feel it when he places his hand on the bump.
Yay!

Living Room

2010-05-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

Again, with no before pictures, but just imagine the couch slided towards the window, the white bookcase where the couch is, and the table beneath the lamps (we haven't moved them yet). There you have it - our living room (this one was for you Maria).

Nesting?

2010-05-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

We redecorated our living room yesterday. I've been wanting to move the furniture around for a while, but couldn't quite see how I wanted it done, until yesterday morning when I visited Nanna from my class. She lives in the same apartment building as us, and the apartments are almost identical. Basically the only difference from her living room and ours were the position of the dining table and the couch. She had her table near the windows, couch near the door, and we had the opposite. But her living room just felt a lot airier than ours (of course one reason could be that our couch is the size of an Olympic swimming pool - but still). I went home and talked M into trying. It really is better. Now the first thing you see is the light dining table surrounded by the windows, and not our HUGE couch. Pleasing for the eye.

The one thing that I still wasn't happy about was our TV furniture. So aging I talked M into modifying it (it helped in the persuasion process that I said that I would do it myself I he didn't want to). I wanted to cut of the top of the furniture. You can see a dark picture of it here, because I forgot to take a before picture with the TV in it.

Michael did a great job, even though there were times when he sent me very mean eyes, and it was obvious that he regretted caving in MANY times in the process.

Oh have a look at that hard working man... and the sour face (Love you too Michael)

Our TV is now out in the open, and not boxed in. Welcome to the free world dear TV. I'm so thrilled about this, I've wanted this forever (almost since we bought the big ol' box-furniture).

Now I have to take my turn.. I'll clean up the mess, take pictures of the living room, and post pictures of the "new" room later. See ya.

Oh baby, baby, baby...

2010-05-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

If I begin to bore you with my ongoing baby theme... get used to it, or just stop reading. Because I have a new hobby; MY BABY!

Last Friday we were shopping, and our path let us to a baby clothing store. We still hadn't bought any baby clothing, and finally we had time to have a look. There was so much cute stuff, my head was spinning, and I couldn't decide on anything. As we were leaving (empty handed) my eyes caught the cutes shirt. It was red and white checkered and had the cutes old-fashioned farmer-boy or milk-boy collar. I WAS IN LOVE (with a piece of clothing.. that rarely happens to me... really!) But in my confusion I still couldn't decide on anything, so M and I left the store without buying anything. Our Friday went peacefully on and I didn't think of the shirt anymore.. until I was sleeping. I woke up Saturday morning with a clear remembrance of a dream I had had of me buying that shirt. Yes, I know other people have great dreams about the name of their baby, or something spectacular happening in the near future.. I dreamed about the shirt! So today as we were out and about we went past the same store, so I could "put my dreams to sleep". We bought the shirt, and a cute pair of pants (you probably can't see it clearly, but the pants has blue and white stripes - cute, cute, cute).

Apparently we are the kind of people who need to have time to think things over before we buy baby clothes. We're usually not like that, but there are so many things that you need to buy and often you receive a lot of clothes from friends and family, so we are hesitant of buying too much. But we Friday we had seen another outfit, that we also bought today. It's a bit smaller than the other outfit.. and softer too.

I love the side opening in the body and the softness of the velour.

This outfit is actually the first one we received after we found it that baby is a boy. My two cousins and a friend were out eating lunch together as we texted them the news. They almost immediately went to the nearest H&M and bought this cool outfit. I absolutely love the "polo-shirt-body". The sweater reminds me of and English university sweater, and the checkered socks are so awesome. The little cap was a bonus gift, my cousin had in her storage. I'm so thankful for people who are almost as exited as we are about our little baby boy . So thank you :-)

Babybjörn Babysitter

2010-05-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

I love when people want to give me things.. for free! Yay!

My cousin asked if we wanted her old babybjörn babysitter, she had used it for her 3 children, and had loved it.

Yes, please!

It was in really good shape, but the fabric was very faded in the color, so I decided to spiff it up a bit. I bought some stretch jersey fabric and figured I could sow a slip on cover. So I did.

The fabric is green and blue, and I really like it. I had my eyes on some other fabric, still with stripes, but narrower. But one thing I've learned after 3+ years of marriage, is that sometimes I have to give a little, and let M in on the decisions. He opted for this fabric, and I could definitely accept it. Now I even like is so much that I'm thinking of buying more to cover my nursing pillow, and maybe make a swaddling blanket. Hmm.. well see. One thing at a time, right?

It's a....

2010-04-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

BOY!

We had an ultrasound yesterday and we're having a perfect, healthy little boy. We are very excited, and Michael can't wait to get a play mate.

Unfortunately we were unable to get a good picture of him, because he snuggled all up into a ball, and it was difficult (for us at least) to tell what was what. But during the ultrasound we saw everything. He has 10 fingers and 10 toes. A perfect little heart with 4 chambers and a cute nose and mouth.

Just perfect!

This is the first piece of clothing for the baby. My mom had bought them last week. There's definitely something cute about those tiny socks.

Maybe later today we'll hit the shops, just to buy a cute little boy's outfit.

The 80'ies Rock

2010-04-29T02:18:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we had been to Michael's sister's 80'ies inspired birthday party. Aren't you just dying to see the pictures? Just keep in mind that the 80'ies was the ugliest decade ever, so don't judge us too hard, just try to remember what you looked like back then.

Here we are - unfortunately (or maybe luckily) we don't have very many pictures of ourselves. But here we are trying to look eighties-like. this picture is from the end of the evening, and apparently our hair is out of training. We began the evening with quite high hair, but it seemed to flatten out during the night. Should have used more hairspray!

Here you can see, a more "puffy" hair style. The picture is quite dark, but I hope you notice my leg-warmes.

With two of my sister-in-laws. Margrethe forgot to look at the camera.. but maybe she was more interested in a picture in profile.

... and yes.. that bulgy thing beneath my folded arms is my bump.

Michaels one brother and 5 cousins took upon themselves to entertain the crowd.....

.... and entertained we were indeed!

LET'S NEVER GO BACK TO THE EIGHTIES - IT WAS JUST THE MOST UNATTRACTIVE PERIODE EVER!

Nothing more to do

2010-04-29T01:47:00.000-07:00

I handed in my 4 final exam papers today. I'm relieved and now they are out of my hands. All I can do is prepare for the oral exams in June, and then hope, that I never again will have to write another paper or go to another exam (deep sigh).

This has been a though one, and I'm not fully content with the last paper, but there was nothing I could do. I handed it in and that's the most important thing right now.

Displacement Activity

2010-04-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

That's exactly what this is.
Maybe I should join a group - anonymous procrastinators. "Hello, my name is Nathalie and I'm a procrastinator" ... "HELLO NATHALIE!!!"
Oh, dear... I'm writing my final exam papers. If somehow I manage to get things done, I might have a chance of graduating in June, but that would have to mean that I have to minimize my time on Facebook, Blogs, playing Napoleon, starring into empty space, google random baby information, reading news online.. and so many other things.
Many things have happened this last month. We went to Stockholm during easter, last weekend we went to Michael's sisters 80'ies inspired birthday party (pictures will come later - but I can reveal that I looked HOT), I'm halfway through the pregnancy, we've had a sonogram (baby was shy, so we couldn't see the gender - but we'll have a try again this week).. oh yes... an Michael cut his hair.

Before

After

Now, you won't hear more from me until after Thursday - when I've handed in the papers. Talk to you later.