And then the flu came...

Oli got sick two weeks ago with the flu, a few days later Nina got sick, and then a week ago I got sick. And my body is not made for anything involving a stuffed nose, because I get sinusitis so easily. So I’m still sick and don’t expect to recover within the next few days. But the bright side of this is that I don’t have any energy to work, so then I can spend some time to get the blog up to date. We haven’t actually written anything from January or February yet, so this is going to be long...but since we are so slow in updating you can use many weeks to read this post, he, he.

First some photos of a feverish little girl...

All wrapped up to get some fresh air

So what has been going on; well, Oma and Opa have been here to visit us. This was very good timing since Nina caught a stomach flu and she could stay at home some extra days together with them, while we were at work. The day Oli’s parents arrived, it started to snow, and it’s been snowing on and off since then. And I have to say, we think it is enough snow now, so spring, where are you??? But while we wait for spring to arrive we try our best to play in the snow together with Nina.

The first day with snow was not so much fun...

...but then it got better:

Playing in "the snow garden":

We even got a new member of our family:

We now have more snow than I have seen in several years (not so strange maybe since last year was only summer for us), but anyway...the top right photo is the view from our bathroom window, and the snow on the roof is now covering half of the window, I just hope the roof won't give in under all the snow.



A cuddle with Opa before bedtime...

And with some babysitters in the house we went to the movies and watched "Australia" (of course), and Oli even got to go to a 70's party, handsome hubby?



We have as usual been working a lot, so no exiting trips anywhere, but we try to do some funny things at home with Nina instead, for example pretending to be in a cafe, sitting at Nina’s tiny table, she loves it! Nina has a cup with a little cow inside, and that is great entertainment :-)



The focus is not always on holding the cup straight :-)


Where is the cow?


Nina has also been a trip to Eidsvoll to visit her friend Sigrid, and we didn’t have to go that far to play with Andreas in the snow.

Sigrid and Nina "playing" :-)

Playing outside with Andreas...

At the moment our soon to be two-year-olds favourite activities at home are:

"Reading" books (or that we read for her),



singing


drawing

watching “In the Night Garden” (especially Makka Pakka)

or "The Bear in the Blue House"on DVD

getting pigtails in her hair (she says she looks like Pippi Longstocking), here using the TV as a mirror.

...and here with another mirror :-)

Eating (when she gets something she likes that is)...

Getting more effective at eating now...


and finally cuddling with hear teddies (especially Winnie the Pooh) and sometimes mum and dad :-)


Nina was very lucky this month, because she got two pressies in the mail...

...one was a very cute dress all the way from down under (thank you very much Ciaran and Anna, Nina loved it!).



...and one was a teddy and some clothes from Oma and Opa:

As you can see Nina loves "Bär"...

I think she'll have more fun with pressies this comming birthday than her first, he, he.

Although she has always had a very strong will, and “NO” being one of her first words, we do see some signs of her entering “the terrible twos” now. She’s got even more will, and gets really, really angry when she can’t do what she wants. She also says the word “NO” in every second sentence.

Typical "NO" face

First a little annoyed, then satisfied when things work out...

And OF COURSE she wants more, when she's already got three pieces of bread in her hand (but it's soon forgotten and she starts to eat :-)...

"Min" (mine) is an often heard word in the house!

But when she gets what she wants she's smiling again:

On the other had, she is getting very big now, she understands more, she says new words every day, in Norwegian and German, she is fun to play with and we think she is getting more and more charming.

Like today, she came over to me, grabbed my head with both her hands, and I was expecting to get my eyes poked out or something like that, but then she kissed me…and went off to play again. Sooo cute!

She is also easy to put to bed, both during her day-sleep, and also in the evenings. She goes to bed between seven and eight, and it’s more and more common that we don’t hear anything more from her until we come in when we wake up in the morning. She is usually awake in bed, but she loves to sit in her bed with her dummies (at least two), books, Pooh and Piglet, and her sippy cup with water. So at the moment we really can’t complain, life in Ås is going good :-)

...now I just have to get the bugs out of my nose and we'll be back to normal again...for now :-)