Time to re-pack

2012, what is going to happen? Where will I go, what will I do, which people will I meet, what challenges will arise? There are so many possibilities, that even to start exploring them is daunting.

For me a new year is not really a new beginning, it is not a blank slate. I think that you take your baggage with you, because if you leave it behind somewhere and continue travelling without, you will quickly experience that you are missing something. 

What I believe is more useful is to regularly make a stop, breathe, open your bag and do a proper clean-out, getting rid of the things that is weighing you down.

So what do I want to leave behind? That is focusing on the negatives, so I will rather focus on some of the things I am keeping and some of the things I would like to add to my bag.

I am keeping:

• Focus on spending time with my family and spending it well, creating long lasting memories for us all.

• The happiness I feel when I am running, and will try to increase the frequency and regularity.

• The desire to learn, to read, to explore, to be taught by others. My main focus being on continuing learning Spanish and learning skills useful in my job.

The time I spend with my friends. It is not that often you have time to meet the girls, be in the book group or go shopping with an honest friend who will not let you buy something because it is cheap if it does not fit. But I want to make space for these things to happen, not every week, but once in a while.

I would like to add:

• Some time per day to use for creative writing, 30 minutes could be a start.

• More structure to every-day life. Organizing a weekly grocery-shop, make a food plan (and stick to it).

• Stop and smell the flowers. I know that mindfulness is all the rage, but years back I went to a meditation class once a week. It was one of the best things I have ever done. So I aim to bring meditation back into my life.

 It is not sure whether my bag is full or not by now, but let’s be realistic. I do not entirely know where I am going, why and when. Therefore I aim to always leave some space in my suitcase for things I might want to acquire in the future. You never know which direction the roads take after the next bend, and it is impossible to be prepared for everything.

What I do know is that I am travelling, and as far as I know have the right baggage, until the moment where I discover that it is time to re-pack again.

What are the important items in your suitcase? Anything you want to add in 2012? 

Christmas snapshots

We’re at the end of 2011 and as always the year has flown by. It feels like it especially speeded up towards Christmas and most of my plans stayed exactly that - plans. No handmade presents, Cards or Christmas decorations. There’s always a next year…

Little H was under the weather since October with a fever and runny nose on and off. It peaked and was diagnosed as Mykoplasma (a type of pneumonia) on Monday the 19^th of December. We went to the doctor already in October and I was more or less told that she had a common cold and that I was a hysterical first-time mum. So I waited and waited to visit the doctor again. When we finally went it was straight on Antibiotics and I felt like the worst mum ever who for weeks on end had thought that Little H only had a common cold...

Here is a snapshot of some of our pre-Christmas preparations:

Cute as a cookie

We had of course our traditional Gingerbread making Sunday together with Sergio’s Senoritas. Which was as hectic and fun as ever. Little H has three wonderful and very energetic "little sisters" in Ashley, Audrey and Adriana. Unfortunately, there were little fun and games as  Little H was sleeping with a fever most of the day. Well then me and H had to have another gingerbread baking session an other day which was just as fun, but not the same.



Blue Santa



We  also had or first Lucia celebration, as written about in the previous blog entry. Not an eye was dry. I was the proudest mum ever.

However,the success and smugness of Little H’s Lucia outfit did not last long. The next day picking her up from the nursery I was told that they were going to have a “nissefest” the next day and that all the kids were going to dress up like small Santas (without the beard). Crap. No Santa hat, no red dress, nothing near a cute little Santas helper outfit was to be found in our house. And there was no time to buy anything. So what did I do? I posted a plea for a Santa hat on Facebook and got to borrow one from one of my best friends son. It was of course blue…. - but did that matter? The next day, Little H was dressed in red and denim and had a cute blue Santa hat on her head. Pappa Kas took her proudly to the nursery only to discover that she was the only one with a blue hat. Not even any of the boys had a blue one! Double crap. All my mummy points were gone, and I am back to zero.

On the 22^nd of December (a  non-fever day for H) we went to my parents house to decorate their tree. It is a tradition I do not want to be without. Even that we have our own tree at home, it is something special to come home to your parents and “help” them prepare their house for Christmas.  Little H decorated herself with glitter and small golden pebbles.She's such a girlie girl.

Pearly Queen

On Christmas Eve the house was in chaos until the bells rang at 4 pm. We were cooking, cleaning and doing the things we should have done days before, preparing franticly for our guests to come. I also had to nip out to get Pappa Kas’ Christmas present. It was not as bad as it sounds...I knew what to get, but had not had the opportunity to buy it.I promise.

Presents presents presents

A week has passed since Christmas Eve and I have had the chance to breath and relax. Reflecting upon December I can conclude that the run up to the 24th was hectic, feverish and stressful, but it was all worth it and I will do the same next year. Well, I will make a red Santa hat, I will make my own decorations, I will, I will, I will.

What is your best Christmas memory from 2011?  


I also want to say thanks for a great 2011 and Happy New Year to all of you. 
Make 2012 to the year you want it to be. I intend to! 

St. Hanna

Wooops, sorry blogfog for weeks, I do hope that you’re not been holding your breath for me to post new updates, but on the other hand I do hope that you have missed me, Little H and our universe while we have been doing what we do – trying to live a domesticated family life.

"She looks like an angel, walks like an angel..."

Here’s today:

Norwegians are not as big on saints as Basque/Spanish Catholics, but we do have a few: St. Olav and … and … and… St. Lucia! The first a celebrated Viking king and the last an Italian martyr who died while protecting her virgin-hood (please do not quote me on this, as no research went into writing this paragraph).

The 13th of December is the day of St. Lucia, and true to tradition every child under 8 dress in a white male shirt or a fitted white sheet. They wear strings of glitter around their heads and their waists and hold an (electric) candle while walking in a procession singing in the dark.

 I had not given it much thought, just along the lines of: fat chance that Little H will ever wear Christmas decorations around her head and walk slowly and graciously holding a burning / electric candle.

But when the evening of the 12th arrived I sat by my sewing machine customizing a white, probably very flammable, angelic dress aquired for next to nothing especially for the occasion. I had also bought five meters of the glittery stuff, and after having checked with some of the other mummies I felt rather smug for my level of preparedness. I had not bought the electric candle though as I did not want to ovedo it and put the other parents to shame. Later I realized that their prioirites were better than mine as they all had candles.



used to be proper candles in my days, hence the scepticism



The morning of the Lucia breakfast at the nursery came,  and still smug, I prepared for us to get ready. Little H was ready to go, we still had 30 minutes to the kick-off, and there! - Little H stood still as a statue in her special corner for a little while, she huffed and puffed until the familiar smell forced itself through to the hall where I was standing getting ready to leave
.
After a rather speedy change of clothes for H, she, Pappa Kas and myself were sitting in the car ready to go. We had the camera, spare strings of glitter, house keys, hats, gloves and dummies. And 17 minutes before kick-off, too good to be true. And of course… it was…

The steep driveway had overnight turned into a bobsleigh lane and it was impossible even for Mr.Formula1 / Pappa Kas to drive from the house and up on the main road. We tried, he tried, I prayed, he removed snow, Little H sang and there! With 9 minutes till the start of the "parade" we were off. Of course upon arrival at the nursery there was no parking and when we entered the nursery we were definitely among the last ones there. I put her in the highly flammable but very cute dress, rolled strings of glitter around her and pushed my way into the room where all the kids were lined up to make sure that H got there on time.

It was then 08.33. Only when we were about to leave did I discover the big note from the day before saying: “please bring the kids and have them ready before 08:15 for the Lucia parade and breakfast”.

Even after reading that note I was pretty chuffed with 08.33.

Are you sure you do not want to share with your mum? ...

The holiday in a snapshot

This holiday has been all about lazying about. I had my running shoes with me (running clothes are always in my drawer here in Elorrio), I had a hiking jacket in my bag and planned this holiday to be a kick of back into health. Not really succeeded there. Not that I have been drunk by lunchtime every day, but spent my days sleeping in and doing next to nothing. When Little H has woken up either early in the morning or during the night Amama Socco has been only too eager to check on her and lull her back to sleep. So most time with Little H has been quality time at a decent hour.

I have bought knitting wool and started on a scarf, a bit alarmed about the instructions saying: “knit till the length of the scarf is 84 cm before changing to pattern number two”. How long does a scarf need to be?

The weather has gone from one extreme to the other. We went to the beach the other day, while two days after we were walking around in poring rain wearing three layers. 

It’s been rather unpredictable and not easy to plan excursions. But we have made two proper ones. One to the beach in lovely summer weather and an other to an indoor aquarium to keep out of the wind and rain.

Little H loves the beach, the water and all animals so both trips were custom made to fit the little Dolphin’s demands. Look at the photos and decide for yourself…. 

Hanna gone fishing

Dancing in the rain

Laughing of the rain 

Splash splash

Getting wet

Travel Trouble

The last time we flew with little H was in December last year. She was then a little baby and behaved relatively good. Now she’s a toddler with plenty of personality, a loud voice, ants in her pants and a strong will.

I was looking forward to two weeks in sunny Spain, but rather nervous about the travel to get there. On the drive to the airport we had a little disco dancing H in the backseat. No sleeping, although it was at 5 am. The only person sleeping in that car was me.

Checking in late, rushing to the gate, no morning coffee, no magazines, but a new perfume in the duty free (Lola, Marc Jacobs) a lip-balm (Dior Addict Lip Glow) and an eye-shadow. All necessities of course.

The boarding went well, Little H found a dog to pet (!?!)(Flying to Brussels?), and all was calm and cuddly. In our seats we bribed her with grapes and yoghurt, and Pappa Kas managed to get her to sleep the last 20 minutes of our two hour flight. While awake she wandered around the isle, tried to grab an old lady’s silver pink hair, flirting with the people around, well- being H. We got no nasty looks from fellow passengers, so I concluded that the first half of our journey a successful one.

We had to run to catch the next flight, and started already then doubting whether our luggage would move as quickly as we did over to the next plane(fear confirmed btw).

Next flight was more or less the same as the first, except that Little Miss Loud did not sleep a minute. We ate our packed lunch of omelette and fruit salad. Flying low-cost (of course) with Brussels Airlines, and no food on board, might as well, as airplane catering is not my first choice of a holiday meal. Little Miss Charming continued with her shenanigans, but with Pocoyo on the Ipad and more grapes we managed this flight pretty well as well.

Journey over. Amama Socco and Aixite Sebas waited for us at the airport and at the moment little H saw them she ran towards them with open arms. I do not know who was happier. Us having babysitters, H having someone who would spoil her for two weeks, or the grandparents who were going to do the spoiling.

Any tips for getting Little H to sit still on the journey back? 

Lady B- the busy bee

No blogs for a while, I haven’t forgotten nor ignored it, just been too busy with work, domestic chores and spending time with some long neglected friends. 

Writing this from rainy Spain, as apparently we took the stormy Norwegian weather with us when we flew to Bilbao yesterday, It seems like it is autumn even in Spain.

So what’s been going on since I’ve been so busy?

Not much really.

I have seen a couple of films at the cinema. Tree of life – which I heard on the grapewine that had gotten good reviews, but ended up wasting more than two hours on bursting volcanoes and close ups of the Milky way. Little dialogue made me glimpse a possibly good story. The actors were good ( Pitt and Penn), the soundtrack not bad either, but the time spent watching were two hours of my precious time. I would rather have watched the view from my living room window than this film. But that’s just my opinion.

I have also seen Oslo 31^st of August, which was brilliant. It follows a previously drug addict through 24 hours, showing how he is struggling to find meaning in living. He visits some friends, sits at a cafe and listens to chit-chat, goes to a party and nothing gives him any reason to live on. It is a film who has made a long lasting impression on me, and is the best film I have seen in a long time. It also uses Oslo almost as acharacter in the film, which I really liked. 

I have been to a party. Upon getting there I got lost and arrived after 9 pm. I had a really good time, nice people, a good tapas buffet, fantastic chocolate cake and great Spanish wine. Sadly I had to leave around midnight. So three hours of “partying” – wow! It was fun three hours though and entirely my fault that I got lost on the way.

We have also celebrated Pappa Kas’ birthday. Little H got him a game for his Wii as his wife would never have gotten him such a silly thing. I got him a boring, but very nice jacket and an equally conservative t-shirt- still nice. I did make a rather delicious cheesecake and he got sweet cinnamon buns. He also got to pick the dinner of his choice, pasta Carbonara, so I guess his day was nice and birthday-ish. He even got to borrow Little H´s crown. 

 We have had some nice walks in fine autumn weather. Crisp air, brown leaves and red cheeks,  then home to hot chocolate and waffles. That’s autumn and I love it. 

What have you been up to lately? 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about getting organized and I must tell you that it is working. At least now and then…

Already implemented is that I have my small clutch bag where I put my keys, driver’s license, access cards, credit card, mints, headphones, lipsticks and other necessities. Yes, it weighs a kilo I am sure, but it contains only essentials. When I change my handbag it is just to remember to move the clutch from one bag to the other, not every single item every time - genius.

Of course the problem is when you leave the whole thing at home, but that has only happened once so far.
Getting organized is a lot more than remembering my keys:

It is to:

• take my shower at night and have the hair dry before you go to bed, to avoid bed head hair in the morning so that I have to take another shower.
• plan and take the next day’s outfit from the wardrobe and have it ready for the next day. It is not as easy as it sounds. How can you predict your mood and the weather for the following morning? I’m not psychic.
• get up in the morning when the alarm goes off, no snooze, no sleeping in.
• leave the house on time whether it is be in work at 7 am or to get Little H to the nursery before 7:45, and then to work.

Because if I fail to do these things

I will:

•  have to take a shower with a drowsy Little H in my arms. And trust me; it is not easy to wash your hair like that. There is not another option as she wants to be carried around the first hour after she has woken up otherwise will cry her you-do-not- care-about-me cry with real tears and all.
• stand in the wardrobe in my underwear letting Little H play with (trying to break) every necklace I have hanging on hooks on the wall, while I try to figure out what to wear.
• wake up after Little H and again having to carry her around while I make the bed, get dressed and so on having the little sleepyhead dozing over my shoulder.

It is a slippery slope, and if only one of my preparations for the day after are forgotten or neglected (I have learnt that to forget or to neglect is not the same thing, which I thought before) it all goes wrong:

I will never get Little H to the nursery on time.
I will not catch my train and I will be late for work. If I am extra lucky, I will have snot stains on my shoulder, jam on my trouser leg and mascara on only one set of eyelashes. All this and more I do not realize until someone points it out until after a morning meeting….

How do you get organized? With or without kids? I need some practical time-saving advice. Help me please…

Ouch! - Little H takes another fall

Little H is a clumsy one. Well, coming from an incredibly clumsy and dizzy mum and having a slightly dizzy dad, does not really give the odds in her favor. What did we expect?

Starting the nursery has been hard, on little H’s head, as she has had at least one new bump, cut, bruise or scratch when she has been picked up at the end of the day. We are now used to being greeted by staff saying things like “there is something you should know….” Before going on with “she ran, fell and hit the wall today and has a nasty bump on her forehead”.

I was thinking “OMG! Why did they not call us, has she got a concussion, a broken nose?” Neither, the staff assured me. She only cried a little bit, the nose seemed fine and if possible she has been even more energetic than usual this afternoon.

And were they right. I looked around and saw amongst the sea of small blond heads, my Little H (the one with the least hair, easy to recognize), running around, talking as fast as a Spaniard and smiling with a forehead full of aloe vera cream.

Well, she IS a tough cookie.

As soon as we got home and before he saw his daughter I had to tell Pappa Kas about the day at the nursery and the nasty fall to explain the large bump growing on Little H’s forehead. I started with: “there is something you should know…”, which I, by the expression on his face, realized was a bad choice of words for the type of “confession” I was going to make. I told him about the bang-head-into-wall incident and how glad I was that it was not this week the photographer was coming to take photos of the kids.

Pappa Kas just shrugged and said: “What’s new?” and I guess he was right. It was neither the first and certainly not the last bump or bruise she is going to come home with.

I want an icecreaaaaaaaaam

Singing the Sunday blues (on a Tues)

On Friday both Pappa Kas and I managed to meet in the nursery to get Little H at the same time.
We meet a very excited little girl who, with the help of lovely Kely the nursery assistant, told that they had been to feed the chickens, picked a cucumber (one!) and eaten apples straight from the tree. Little H is no stranger to eating apples straight of the branches, but since we only had six apples in total spread over six trees this year, I am sure that she could need a little more practice.

The sun was shining; Little H was not a grumpf, everything was set for a perfect weekend. On Friday afternoon we played in the park until Pappa Kas felt feverish and coming down with a cold. We then went home, Little H and Pappa Kas to bed and me to the sofa. Saturday started great. The sun was shining, Pappa Kas was feeling better, Little H slept” inn” til 7 am and was as charming as ever. We decided to go for lunch with some friends and do some shopping. Just as we were about to leave I started getting a headache and a thick throath, and when parking the car I asked Pappa Kas if I had a fever. He felt my forhead with closed eyes and a serious expression before he concluded that it might be the case…

Although cute, I do not think she would make it past the fashion police

During lunch Little H turned nasty H, but only because she was hungry and the food was late. The lunch was stressful but still nice; we managed to catch up with some friends and have some food while entertaining H and lower her tantrums. I was exhausted.
Back home it was my turn to go to bed early, and I am sure that Little H and Pappa Kas were eating ice cream out of the box and watching cartoons (as I would have done). I slept for 14 hours.

Little H shows us yet again how to eat with you whoooole face

Sunday came with rain, fever and a bad cold. How could such a promising start to the weekend turn so bad?
How was your weekend?

Getting organised

After seeing parts of my forgetfulness and all the hassle it causes in writing, I decided that “this cannot go on!”. Things have to change. I want to get organised and tidy, be one of those mummies who plan ahead, who has it all under control at all costs and appear cool as a cucumber even when her wallet is at home and she’s standing at the till with a 100 items of groceries already gone through, and with a less than charming toddler by your side. I want to be one of those I told myself.

Just missed the train...

All changes have to start somewhere. And to succeed I have to start slowly, adapting a few changes at the time, selecting a few life changing quick fixes which can make my life less messy, and less complicated for the people around me.

As per yesterday I have gathered my keys (house and bike), my access card for work, a lipstick, mints, petty cash and headphones for my phone in a little leather pouch that I have. I am now putting that on the bureau in the hallway so that I have to see it before leaving in the morning. It has worked two days in a row, so if it works tomorrow as well, there might be a habit forming here.

All in one place, too good to be true?

The next life changing quick fix is to prepare Little H’s breakfast for the nursery, her morning milk and my own lunch before the sofa captures me and I am lost in front of some silly TV program. As soon as Little H is asleep I go straight to the kitchen and make the sandwiches. Easy peasy.

There's nothing like a packed lunch!
(I wish we had Starbucks in Norway...)

 

The last time-saving being organized going-to-be-a-habit fix being implemented this week is to have my shower at night, put my clothes for the next day in the bathroom (after having checked the weather forecast and taken that into account when planning the outfit). It has worked pretty well so far, the only hitch being that have yet to implement a way to get my work clothes ironed, but thanks to Pappa Kas’ domestic skills (I have none) I have yet to wear a creased top. Thank God for his good habits!