early HH

and here through the wonder that is modern technology - a picture of auntie sarah on her 2nd birthday - May 1970 - thanks to grandma for the digging this out of the archives at Conibear HQ.
I am reliably informed that this head of hair hadn't seen the sharp side of a pair of scissors either. Sorry Maud, slow-grow hair is in your DNA, but just who's side does this phenomena have its erm ahem.....roots, further research is required methinks.



some things never change 2 year olds and their dollies - modern buggy style is required for todays babies however.

2

Maud reached the big 2 last week and managed to spread her celebrations out over three days, a lavish party with obligatory jelly was thrown on the saturday, we had a little less raucous but no less fun celebration with Grandma and uncle Tim on the sunday, then on the big day itself Maud celebrated at nursery and then again with auntie Ingvill in the afternoon.
Enjoyed herself enormously except when everybody sang happy birthday which didn't quite seem so fun.

Now i used to hate it when my parents did this to me....dress me up in some fancy togs and then utter the dreaded words....
'just stand over there by the table / chair / or whatever and smile for a photo'
It can't be helped i tell you - i didn't realise i'd done it until i saw the photo and then it dawned, i never smiled when asked to perform this duty either.
So expect plenty more of these in the coming years, it's my right as her dad to put her through it each and every year.




Waiting for the guests to arrive is always the worst bit, just time to get a healthy dose of fruit before the cake fest begins.



Couldn't to even wait to get into the living room before opening the first present, eagerly aided by Oscar.



Maud and Kristiana get away from the crowds to open another.
One thing i notice in this photo is Maud's super slow growing hair, she and Kristiana were born a few days apart. Maud made it to her second birthday without ever having her hair cut, apparently her auntie Sarah had the same problem... HA!




people opening and closing their cake holes.

Present and correct

On the sunday Maud couldn't even be bothered to change out her pyjamas before commencing with the present opening, she has no problems knowing what to do with gifts, i think she prefers them without the string...easier to get in to.



Maud takes full advantage of grandma's willingness to read books and runs backwards and forwards to collect the rest of her extensive library, no matter that Grandmas norwegian isn't up to much....they have to be read too.
See this this word here grandma... that says monkey.



In the afternoon grandma treated us all to lunch, which Maud spread round her own face.



Contented after another days present opening.

The Simpsons

The big day - spent at nursery

Monday was the actual day, Maud models the crown she made at nursery. and then sets about her third day of opening presents.



Maud still finds time for her baby, carefully strangling it whist nattering on her phone...ahhh modern parenting. The main point of this photo is to show you her new birthday chair.



Looks to be quite exciting news.

FWD

Maud gets to experience what i've been telling her all along - front wheel drive can give your vehicle frustrating even disappointing driving characteristics.


FWD from matt on Vimeo.

Martinus' 2nd birthday party

Martinus turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and Maud gladly accepted the invite and have the chance to scoff some pizza and buns.
Just like old times, except now they can feed themselves and Martinus has got a much bigger tractor.



Maud leaves the boys to play with the dolls house and fights Martiuns for ownership of his new tractor.



she won.



Maud and Oskar discuss the finer points of playing the spoons..



Looks to me like she fell for his chat up line too.

Teething problems

Brushing her teeth is one of Maud's least favourite things to do so these pictures show quite an uncommon sight.
A bagful of props and distractions is what's needed to get the job done, and usually a change of personell, that is to say if Silje starts the teeth cleaning then Maud will ask for me to help her and vice versa.

Red tape

Blogging ummm, i know, i've got to get a grip.
Not been many photos taken recently, dunno why, thats just the way it is, still, have plenty of news tho.
Now with Norway not being part of the EU i need a visa (residents permit) to be here, now since when i first arrived i didn't really have any reason to be here other than luuurve, (and you can't get a visa for that, i checked) i had to apply for a residence permit based on employment, I renewed the visa 5 years later in 2003 on the same grounds. Now roll forward to the current renew point of January 2008 and hey waddaya know i'm married to a Norwegian citizen and we have a child together, do i still need a Visa, yup, you betcha.
It gets better still as my current visa doesn't give grounds for me to get permanent residency.... nope, for that i need to change my current visa form being a residents permit based on my employment to being residents permit based on me moving here on grounds of a family member(?), that of course costs money and needs to be renewed every year, but after three years i could then apply for permanent residency and never need to renew anything ever again.
The cost of renewing my current employment based permit, just in case you're wondering is....zippo. So here i am after 10 years of living in Norway married to a Norwegian and i'm still here on a Visa based on my employment.....ahhh bureaucracy gotta love it.

New flats all round... got a date for us to get a sneak preview of our new flat. The 4th March we get to see what we have actually bought and write down all the things that are wrong with it so they can fix 'em before we hand over a big wad of cash and get the keys on April 8th all we've seen so far is an A5 plan drawing, gulp.
So going to be a very busy few weeks getting our current abode ship shape and ready for selling, which i plan on doing just after Easter. Market has slowed quite a bit here recently but i don't anticipate it being too much of a problem and expect this pace to go with 2 or 3 weeks of being on the market.....we'll see.

Went round to see Martinus' folks new pad last week, which is oddly just up the road from where we are moving to. They too moved from an 1890's building to a brand spanking new one, anybody'd think we were copying, we've even chosen the same kitchen cupboards and flooring as then too.

Maud and Martinus discuss the pro's and cons of moving while munching their way through some grapes.




Silje was working the evening shift today so Maud was stuck at home with me. She insists on sitting in her chair while you prepare her grub so inevitably sometimes gets a bit bored.

I'm waiting

I'm still waiting...

Now listen if you put that camera down and got on with cooking, it might be better for all of us.

Child labour II

If the payments on the new place prove to be just that little too much for our finances then we're going to sent Maud to work Oslo's clubs as a belly dancer.
Watch and learn.


Belly dance from matt on Vimeo.