The working week is coming to an end and it’s time for a re-cap of a rather eventful week.

I do not know whether it was all the positive energy I was channeling by wearing all my favorite items this week (not all at once, I would have looked like a mix of a Christmas tree, a school teacher and a bag lady). But a drip here and there.

On Tuesday, while using my favorite black leather fits-absolutely-everything bag I became an Auntie. Auntie T, it has a certain ring to it hasn’t it? Little Laia was born, perfect, small, dark and healthy at a hospital in Northern Spain. Congratulations to Tia Eli and Tio Inigo, the proud parents.
Little H is now a big cousin and I am sure that she's proud. She looks and points at the baby photos on our phones and says (in true H style) - det det det det (“it” in Norwegian) which is how she express her likings of people, food, tractors and pigeons a. o. So she is definitely pleased with another family member on her own age.

Little Laia

My initial thought when I heard the news was: Hurraaaa! My second was: Oh Crap! My babysitters, Amama Socco and Aixixte Sebas might want to go back to Spain to spend time with their newborn granddaughter as soon as possible.
We knew that this could happen, but had our fingers crossed and hoped Laia would come on the calculated day of arrival . The Castro’s had had a family meeting before this summer was planned, and fully flexible tickets were bought and all eventualities were discussed.

Little H hard at work

I started toying with the idea of bringing Little H to work and lock her in one of the glass cubicles next to my desk or have her rumble around in the open landscape while singing and dancing (screaming and babbling at the top of her lungs while swaying back and forward and/or wiggling her bum). Pappa Kas would have to endure the same for a day or two. We share the responsibilities 50/50, in bad times and in good ones. Next week looked like a challenging one for us and especially for our colleagues.







I am sure that there was a Castro emergency conference call where an agreement was reached. The conditions were tough: If Amama & Aixitxe could be in telephone contact at least twice a day with the new parents and getting photos of the little angel (she sleeps all the time), and as soon as they got out of the hospital be available on Skype 24/7 they would stay with Little H for another week.
It’s all fine by me :-)

They’re back!

When one set of grandparents go on holiday another pair comes along to claim their percentage of Little H’s unconditional love, wet diapers, dripping chin, tantrums (as when the strawberries are all gone) and all the singing and dancing (squealing and wobbling from side to side) . Granny B and Granddad G left to go on two weeks holiday the day after Aitxitxe Sebas and Amama Socco arrived. I do not think Little H can stomach the whole family's love in one go, so it is good to have one set of grandparents over at the time.

I believe Gran and Granddad have experienced some of the pain it gives to have their first grandchild far away (even though it is maximum a two hours drive to their cabin). We have kept them updated by teary (Gran) telephone conversations, a large number of picture messages and text reports.

Little H is fascinated by the Iphone, and amazed by the features, such as that you can hear grandparents voices, look at pictures of yourself, play music, take photos, use it as a keyboard (some kind of app. For kids) and hang up whenever you are tired of the voice in the other end.
We know people who gave their 1-year olds an IPad for their birthdays, but poor H, she has to settle for grabbing her parents IPhones whenever they are within reach.



Aitxitxe and Little H



Amama and Aitxitxe arrived with a broken red wine bottle staining all the clothes in one of the suitcases, luckily there were plenty of other bottles wrapped in bubble wrap which survived without any damage. My summer was saved.

 When Little H and Pappa Kas went to the airport to pick them up, little H was amazed to experience her grandparents in 4D after many months of only seeing them and talking with them via Skype. However, it did not take long before ice was broken and Little H and Amama glued together, touching, talking and gesticulating (two weeks into the visit, it is still the same).

Little H and Amama

And what do us parents do? Escape as soon as H is in bed, going to the cinema, visiting friends together, hand over little H to Amama if there is a whiff of something from her diaper. Who said that having parents in law visiting was tiring?

Another Family Visit

Last week, during some of the Easter break we had visitors from far far away. Pappa Kas’ cousine Naiara and her husband Alex came all the way from Northern Spain to experience the snow, the cold, the polar bears in the streets and all the other features which adds up to the Norwegian Experience.

Sadly for them it has been between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius and sunny for the past fortnight. Not exactly what they expected, but they just have to come back another year and make sure that it is in cold and dark January. I cannot guarantee a polar bear, but cold and snow they’ll more than probably get. And Pappa Kas will be happy to get some help with shoveling snow from our driveway and delighted by the audience when jumping off the veranda into the soft hills of snow just shoveled.

It is nice having family staying, and especially nice when they bring my special friends Rioja, Serrano and Chorizo along. During my maternity leave I almost emptied the wine-racks, but with these recent visits we are re-stocking and I hope the bottles will last until the next visit from Elorrio (in June). Otherwise I have to visit the “Wine monopoly”, where I have not needed to set my feet in several years.

And it is of course nice for Little H to see family and to get the extra attention she craves. It is much better having four grown-ups applauding her tricks around the breakfast table and to have four people to exhaust when she wants to practice running, but are unable to do so unaided.

So if you want to come and visit we can offer free room and board in exchange for a good bottle of wine and a couple of hours of babysitting.

Hanna and her men 
(this time Pappa Kas and Tio Alex)

Sooooo last season

Typical Basques ;-)

According to the inhabitants of the fashion capital of Spain, Elorrio, Hanna and her pram is sooooo last season. There’s a new pram in town and it is owned by everyone who’s anyone in this little Basque town. It’s called a Baby Jogger City Mini (no more, no less) and is the only pram which works with the latest hiking boots, fleece jackets, Lycra hill walking trousers and mullets, as displayed by the local fashionistas (for more Basque Fashion).

One of the biggest and most important fashion statements a yummy mummy can have is the pram. So I did not take lightly on researching the most practical, durable and ehrmmm fashionable pram I could find (and afford) before the arrival of Little H. And as Pappa Kas is a man of method and thoroughness he scouted the internet, interviewed friends and read consumer tests. We were talking about an investment buy here, more often used than a Mulberry Bayswater, so we needed to make sure that we took the right choice. And so we thought…

International as we are, we did not end up with one of the Swedish sturdy, solid and snow compatible prams with footbags (whatever that is) but proudly bought a Central European design winner- the Bugaboo.

Overall I am very happy with the pram. It is light, easy to assemble, practical, and if you have to take the bus, it is so small that you can enter at the front of the bus rather than having to shout to the driver: “Open the back door please”, only to be ignored and left at the bus stop. The easiness of pushing it in the snow is not to be discussed here, but I can now understand why Scandinavian Design is for Scandinavians and adapted to their (winter)-needs.

The color of the Buggie was a blip though as we bought a chocolate brown one, despite me knowing that it did not match my wellies, my winter parka, my hundred black tunics or cardigans or any other item of clothing a yummy mummy is supposed to have. Well, the Chocolate color works with jeans and my hair-color, so I am one of those trying hard- getting nearly there- but oh so wrong. This seasons gray nail-polish? Don’t go there.




Me, Little H in the buggie, Amama and Aitxitxe