Bah Humbug....... Merry Christmas

I've seen the light, not in any religious sense i might add but here's the thing. Christmas has always been a good holiday but i've never really actually had any great sense of anticipation or expectations in my adult years except for the food, which is always the highlight..... but this year has been different, much different. In fact i would go as far to say that this year has been the most fun since i was about 10, why is probably obvious.
Maud.
Watching somebody who quite clearly had such a great time both giving and receiving presents was just fantastic, so much so that Bah Humbug might be something i say a little less often from now on.
I don't really think we were expecting Maud to be quite so into the whole experience already, afterall she is still a month or so off her second birthday, but she was, and it was great.
here's the quickish story of Christmas so far...

The 6 hour train journey from Oslo turned into a 7 hour plus epic due to several technical gremlins so we didn't arrive in Flekkefjord until 01:30 on friday night / saturday morning. Bah Humbug indeed.
No snow again this year, more fuel for the global warming theory so to speak, but we did arrive to a great frost with what were probably the biggest ice crystals i have ever seen.
The next day was off to Oldemor in Vigeland, or more precicely Tjorteland acres, for the annual cuuting down of the Chritmas trees for all the family.
The evening of 24th is the big day over here so we're all done and dusted before you bods in the UK even begin. As expected Maud got a whole load of stuff, including....

• new shoes (a pre christmas necessity)
• Bunad - a Norwegian national dress (knitted version, tusen takk mormor)
• pyjamas
• a dress
• books
• handbag
• a dressing gown
• a kitchen - the biggest present of the day

She got to eat cake, ice cream and stay up late and i felt enormously proud and had great fun being with her the whole day..OK less typing more pictures.....

stupendously big ice crystals

a must for any sleep ...the little rabbit aka 'teddy' or 'harepus'

getting comfy in the much used chair.

car magazines another christmas must have.

Maud checks the sturdyness of the tree before allowing the decorating to commence

.......

.......

New kitchen

Maud gets the biggest parcel of the day and with a little help from Nora unwraps it to reveal a whole new kitchen.....
hmm maud might have to wait until we move into the new flat until we have room for this.

Maud gets the BIGGEST parcel of the day from matt on Vimeo.

pia pia pia...no

needs some practice but you have to start somewhere


Maud's Christmas sing along from matt on Vimeo.

Shopaholic

A rainy Saturday morning, Silje is at work so i took Maud for her first test drive of a shopping trolley, she was most flummoxed by the fact that she wasn't getting pushed to the shops in her pram as usual but had to walk.
Trolley control was a bit unsteady at first but soon got the hang of it, in fact she got so used to the idea that she wanted to push it home too.




Always time for a 10 minute photo shoot as you know.

Triple header - part III

The final part of the trilogy - a visit from Grandma and Uncle Tim.
More pre-Christmas presents for lucky little Maud, it's all good present opening training i suppose.
Maud was in top form for at least one day of their visit, Sunday she was back on the sick list with yet another cold.

Triple header part II - 'sicko'

Maud hasn't been on top form the last week or so, been struggling to shake off a cold and cough, but being incompetent and irresponsible we stuck with the plan for part two of the triple header - a trip to Kristiansand to visit uncle Trond auntie Janne, Nora and Henrick.
Maud and Silje had the luxury of an extra day and set off on the thursday last week, i followed down in the, ahem, Mercedes on the friday.
Uneventful trip down for me apart from almost running out of diesel.
Wasn't so uneventful for Maud as she became more sick as the weekend rolled on. A couple of spectacular throwing up incidents was probably the low point for her. Still she soldiered on and even endured the 4+ hours trip in the car back to Oslo.
(I'm also happy to report that she is now well on the way to recovery, she had the day off nursery yesterday but was back to her normal self today, good job too as Grandma and Uncle tim arrive on friday for part three.)



Maud and Henrick get ready to eat.


A trip to the zoo was probably the highlight for Maud, she seemed pretty astounded that all the funny looking animals she has read about in books for so long do actually exist.



Up close with front end of a pig and the erm back end of a goat.


Maud looking a bit worse for wear on the way home.

Triple header... part I

This weekend saw the first installment of a triple header.
Mormor and morfar popped in, OK took the 6 hour train journey, to visit us for the weekend.
Maud had a super duper cold so wasn't really in the best of health over the weekend but it didn't seem to affect her enjoyment of seeing her grandparents.




Of course it helps with presents too, thank you to a certain Great Auntie and Uncle in Flekkefjord for the present they sent along for Maud, another instant hit.




On Saturday me and Egil took a trip to a car show in Lillestrøm, they just happened to have Queen Maud's car on display... maybe i'll get a Humber for my little Maud one day too, probably not going to be quite as grand as this one though.



Maud always finds time for a quick pose for the camera before bedtime.



Next weekend we're in Kristiansand and the weekend after that Grandma and Uncle Tim fly in, so it's all go in November.

Child labour

Last weekend Silje worked a whole load of hours, double shift on saturday and then sunday day so me and Maud were left to make our own fun - which for me means putting her to work.
The pink wash, of which there is lots, was finished and it needed emptying, enter one willing assistant.
Now this video is 5 minutes long so only for those truly hard core, dedicated Maud fans amongst you.
Watch and learn.


Child labour from matt on Vimeo.

Now here is a first

Maud suddenly gets stage fright and goes all shy in front of the camera.
(sorry about the quality of the video but somebody always insists on using the camera on it's side which means i have to do some computer jiggery pokery to rotate them)


Maud gets shy from matt on Vimeo.


The second take is a bit better with a lot of prompting from auntie Ingvill.


Performing monkey from matt on Vimeo.

25 year old wallowing beast

Some things just happen, opportunity came knocking at my door in the shape off a cheap 25 year old wallowing beast and i weakly submitted to its lure.
Intrigued?
It is something which has been filed away in my noggin, not in the 'incompetent and irresponsibility' folder but something more along the lines of 'stuff to get around to do when the chance arises' folder.
Meet the newest member of the family, who from this day forward for reasons to be revealed shortly, is to be known as The Fat Wagon.

I can hear the groans from here, well let me tell you, it was cheap, and it is going to be some kind of rolling experimental, how to put it, green machine in more ways than one.
In addition to the Über cool green it will hopefully, if everything goes to plan, run on a certain percentage of common or garden cooking oil. Yes really.
For those of you who don't about Rudolf Diesel i suggest you take a quick looksie here.

So there you have it - The Fat Wagon -
You can follow the development and the possibly many break downs of both me and the car in a new blog too.

Heat

Maud's life is now getting back to normal after her superstar jet set lifestyle took her over the Atlantic to Canada and back again.
Sleeping patterns have eventually shifted back to the parental recommended of a nightly 12 hours and the midday snooze is also now just getting to back the prescribed dose.
Of course the superstar lifestyle has it's ups and downs -
a successful photo shoot one day and the paparazzi, Heat magazine style, expose shots the next.

Jet lag

So how y'all been while we've been on our hols?
Hard to put 3 weeks of holidays into one single blog posting but here's the jist
some rain, some sun, plenty of fun, wii shoulder, shopping, tons of food and a dash of G&T.
The first week was the four of us (me, silje , maud and auntie sarah) weeks 2 and 3 we were joined by grandma and uncle tim.
Plenty of moving about too, our first 2 nights in a hotel then 10 days in a apartment in downtown Vancouver and then a week and a bit at White Rock in a huge house by the sea, not far from some place called the USA.

No big dramas to report during the entire trip either. Maud's sleeping habits did take a bit of a turn for the worse during the last week when she more or less refused to sleep by herself, the very mention of bed set her bottom lip quivering and placing her in bed provoked a wail of protest the likes of which we have never previously experienced from her, this only abated when somebody slept in the same room with her.
Can't really blame her for not wanting to miss out on our wii-ing sessions in the evening can you.
Oh, and every body caught a cold except Silje!

More pictures to come when i get time.

Stone alone, Maud makes a statement, this is the white rock of White Rock btw.

Safe haven - nursery

Maud outside the door to her other life, away from her parents.
Looks pretty eager to get in too doesn't she.
Left door for the little kids, right door for the slightly larger ones.




Lola has previously been used to being carried around by her hair, so the new buggy really bought a smile to her face......



maud's too.

Spot of blogger

Erm......
yada yada ...OK so i've not blogged for a good while now, so many days since last time that it's turned into counting in months rather than days. Can't beleive how fast time is whizzing by... anyone guess how long i've been here in Oslo for now? No?
10 YEARS! Jeeezaloo - 3rd september 1997 - i arrived here with a suitcase full of clothes to live in flat that was 6m x 3m, and yes that included the bathroom and kitchen.
So ten years older and this getting back to work full time thing has been all to much for me, I have tons of footy to be watching as the english and Norwegian seasons overlap at this time of year, Silje works a lot of evening shifts atm. Oh.. and i've been lazy. Blogging has just fallen to the bottom of the pile.
The sooner i can fix the BlogThis! button in Picasa2 the better for everyone.

Well, on with it....i'll try and get all the blah blah blah out of the way at the start and then stick some pictures up at the end since that's what you come here for ...right?
What's up in the the world of Tjorteland / Conibear and how is the Maudster?
Maud has settled into nursery way better and faster than we had any right to expect. Playing, eating, sleeping and saying goodbye to whoever drops her off in the morning all happens without any fuss and luckily she's always mega happy to see us when pick up time comes around.
Saying that Maud has been a bit ill of late, only to be expected when starting nursery i know but when the Maud smile went AWOL for a week or so recently we knew she was suffering.

Holidays. I'm a slacker, back at work full time for a month and a half and already i'm off on my hols. So 15th September we jet off to Vancouver to visit auntie Sarah for 3 whole weeks, and as is the way, our peaceful break will be shattered when uncle Tim and Grandma gatecrash the trip to join us for the last 2 weeks too. (just kidding grandma)
With a 1.5 hour flight to London and then a 9 hour flight to Vancouver i'm just hoping Maud is in the mood for pushing up some serious Zzzzz's on the way over.

Random highlights and low points from the past month, starting off with Maud pulling her best 'i'm super ill' face.