Alexander - 1 year!

I started this post months ago but this has been the summer of madness so please forgive me for being so incredibly slow to complete it:

When I look back at pictures and posts I can't believe that our baby was born one year ago today.

[Check out the announcement post HERE, and his birth story HERE and HERE] I know I'm supposed to say this year has flown by, and in some ways it has. But it other ways it has dragged on and on. The cliche is so true, the days are long but the years are short.

Thank you Alexander, for bringing richness and dimension to our lives. Parenthood has been the most fun and unpredictable adventure we've had yet. We love you so very much!

What a year of firsts...
First bath at home at 5 days old. You loved it so much and nothing has changed...you still LOVE taking baths!

 

First photo shoot at 4 weeks and your most recent photo shoot!

First plane ride at 8 weeks to Oslo and now you've been on 18!

First trip to the U.S. at 4 months and now you've been (soon to be) 3 times!

First tooth at 5.5 months and now you have 9!

First word at 9 months ("momma") and now you can say "dadda", "no", "more", "wawa" (for water), "up", "go go", "yeah" and lots of animal noises ("moo", "baa", "neigh", "meow", "woof")
And so many more...

The one that was probably hardest for me was your first steps on the eve of your first birthday. You giggled with glee as you walked back and forth between your dad and I. So many mixed emotions I was feeling watching you literally take a your first steps away from being a baby and into toddlerhood. That joy that came with independence terrified me as your mother...why can't you be a baby forever!?

As we put you to bed on your last night as an 11 month old I couldn't help but feel just incredibly grateful for you in our lives. You're joyful and silly. Mischievous and curious. Friendly and magnetic. You've got loads of energy and rarely slow down for a cuddle. You love to eat and scream with joy. In this picture, I see two tired and worn out parents and one very happy and loved little boy. And that smile makes it all worth while.

Goodnight my baby boy. Tomorrow you turn ONE!

Texas Trip Part 1- Summer 2015

Xander and I were lucky enough to be able to visit Texas this summer. Unfortunately, Arthur had to stay in Norway and work and we REALLY missed his company (and help!) but we still had some fun adventures back home with family! We were there such a short time that we definitely did not get to see everyone that we had hoped to. But we'll be back soon!

I took a ton of pictures to be prepared :)

Xander loves to look out the window of the airplane. We went from cool, cloudy, green Norway to sunny, hot, but surprisingly green Texas! Yay for lots of rain!

Exploring the toy store in Cracker Barrel...I mean, how American is that!?

Enjoying the same rocker that I sat in at a kid at Nana and Papa's house

We spent a lot of time outside in the warm sunshine (well, as much as the horrible mosquitos would allow) Xander loved the kid-sized lounge chair at the pool!

One of the highlights of the trip was watching Xander "sing" with my mom. I come from a very musical family and it's fun to have Xander exposed to that. He sang (screamed) along the whole time my mom played and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt!

Xander spending quality time with Oma.

Xander and I spending quality time at HEB...because we woke up at 4am and had nothing to do but get showered and dressed and head off to buy a bunch of yummy American processed food! Obviously we had the store to ourselves at 6am!

My mom and I at the JW Marriott Spa for a day of pampering!

Gorgeous day to lay by the pool with a sangria!

Xander giving his Grandpa Terry some highly coveted snuggles. Little did I know that he was in the early stages of getting very sick :(

Xander and I both spent the next 3 days recovering from a nasty virus. He didn't want anyone but me and he was super clingy and cuddly. I caught it too...so that was fun :(

Xander and his namesake, Papa Kent by the bottle wall at Whisky Cake.

I'm not much of a red meat person so my parents were surprised to hear that I wanted to go out for one amazing burger while in Texas. I chose the OMG burger at Whisky Cake and it was SOOOO OMG good!

Xander's personal favorite Texan delicacy was fresh flour tortillas. Put a stack of those on the table and he would devour them all. Kid after my own heart.

Stay tuned for Texas Part II...

Hytte Weekend: Rennesøy

During Charlotte's visit we spent a long weekend on a cabin on Rennesøy island, just about a 30 minute drive from our house. It was a nice little get-away and it was fun to explore something new.

The first thing we did was tour Utstein Kloster. Utstein is Norway's only preserved monastery from the Middle Ages and although I typically avoid historic sites like the plague I really enjoyed our visit. It took some time for us to figure out where the entrance was and Charlotte got to experience how HUGE this place was as she climbed all the hundreds of steps checking each door to see if it was unlocked. If you look closely in the picture below you can see a tiny Charlotte at the base of the steps.

We finally figured out where the entrance was on the complete opposite side of where we had been looking. And no thanks to some employees enjoying a quiet breakfast under the trees...typical. I really enjoyed our visit and I found myself regretting my lack of attention in my AP Art History class as we toured the abbey.

This was a quiet prayer room just off the entrance to the main chapel. It was so serene and calm.

View of the back of the chapel

Side door (to the prayer room)

View of the front of the chapel and the wooden alter made in Germany. Notice my cute little photobomber :)

Close up of the alter

Dining area used after the abbey was sold and used as a private residence.

Meanwhile...back at the hytte,...

we were dealing with a bit of diaper rash and getting breakfast ready :)

Playing outside

And putting the little guy to work at the store!

And last but not least, a view from my very own serene prayer area in our hytte. Sunset, baby in bed, glass of wine...perfection!

Aunt Charlotte's Visit - June 2015

Charlotte (Arthur's sister) came to visit us for 2.5 weeks in June. It was a great visit and we got to show her a lot of the things we love about living in Norway. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of her...Xander still stole the spotlight! But we sure did have a lot of fun and it was great having her here! And Xander was totally smitten! He absolutely loved spending time with her and it really melted my heart!

Coffee and cinnamon roll date at Kanelsnurren in Sentrum.

Reading books and cuddling with Aunt Charlotte.

Charlotte treated us to not one but TWO date nights out. The first night we went to Egit (our favorite restaurant to date in Sentrum) and enjoyed a fun meal of tapas and wine. We got home around 1:30AM and Xander chose that morning to wake up at 5AM...so that was fun.

 Stavanger Harbor at midnight. It would have been even brighter if not for the clouds.

For our second date night we went to the Fish Market. We enjoyed ALMOST getting to see the sunset...a clear sign that we were again out too late since the sun was setting around 11:45pm.

The next day, we of course had to make an IKEA run with Aunt Charlotte. Xander found his doppelganger (we named him Ike) so we had to bring him home :)

Charlotte and I spent a day walking around old town Stavanger and exploring the harbor. It was a warm sunny day...one of the few we've had this summer!

 Xander and I in Old Town.

Charlotte and Xander discovered their shared love of risgrøt, which is basically the Norwegian version of rice pudding. Between each bite Xander was saying "MMMMMMMM!"

We had a pic-nic on the beach. It wasn't very warm or sunny so we had to huddle down between the rocks. But it was still very pretty and we had the beach to ourselves.

On her last weekend in town we took Charlotte to one of our favorite places, the candle factory in Byrkjedalstunet. The drive out there is one the the prettiest local drives past fjords, waterfalls, and mountains. The food is really authentic and there's a cute little gift shop as well. Its always a crowd-pleaser :)

Luckily we didn't have to say good-bye to Charlotte in Norway. She flew home with Xander and I back to Texas. She was an incredible help on the plane, even managed to rock Xander to sleep. She held him for a long time and gave me a break...which is no small feat. Sleeping babies seem to double in weight!

We loved having Aunt Charlotte in town and hope that she can come back to Norway again very soon!!!!