Babies in bunads!

So yesterday was Norway's Constitution Day!

Everyone got dressed up in their finest...and that meant Roo put on her baby bunad and spent her first 17th of May in style!

Roo got to borrow her grandmother's silver bunad brooch for the day. The very same brooch that my mother-in-law was gifted by her grandmother to wear on her childhood bunads. Lucky gal!

We made Roo and her Auntie pose in their bunads together...Roo was obviously more into that than her auntie was. Lol.

Then we got into some comfier clothes and had dinner...Roo got to wear the paper crown during desert!

And grandma brought out some toys to play with...(that her Uncle playing next to her too!)

Now Aurora is asleep for the night, so the Hubs and I are settling in with 'American Pickers' on the History channel, and some chips and dip. Lovely.

Have a wonderful weekend, darling readers!

Whu-whu-webcam!

You can never get too bored when you remember you have a webcam...

I just realized I have absolutely no make-up on in these photos...

Who do I talk to about officially being deemed as brave by the media for voluntarily posting such photos online? ;)

A fowl confession...

I stopped eating meat when I was 13-years old.

After a few years of no meat at all, I reluctantly integrated some seafood into my diet for health reasons.

Then in college, I went vegan, and stayed that way for a few years.

Moving to Norway had me reverting to vegetarianism again, with some seafood included for nutrition.

Despite most people in my life doubting my ability to keep a meat-free diet during my pregnancy, I barely even ate seafood whilst pregnant, and had no desire to eat any meat at all during my pregnancy or post-partum...

Until now.

I can't explain why, as I'm not sure myself, but in the past odd month I've started eating poultry.

One evening while making dinner for the Hubs (who loves his meat!), it was just like a switch flipped and I decided to cook up a chicken filet for myself as well.

Needless to say, the Hubs was shocked...nearly as much as I was!

The first couple of bites were weird, and a bit off-putting. It had been 15-years since my last bite of chicken after all!

But I did finish it. And since then, I've willingly had chicken and turkey multiple times.

Dinner the other night: chicken, sweet potato, veggie and rice...gravy not pictured. ;)

Again, I have no idea what happened, or why I've started again.
It feels right though, now I"m used to the taste and texture again, and frankly enjoying integrating poultry into meals for all three of us...it's quite nice to not have to separate out a portion for myself before the meat gets cooked into our food!

So I don't know what this means for my life as a big picture, only that just now, I'm content eating poultry for the moment.

I know that if there were more and cheaper resources here in Norway, I would prefer to be vegan again...but since that's just not the case, I'm rolling with the punches, and feeling just fine with it.

I don't even necessarily think that eating poultry will lead to me eating more and other meats. In fact, I'm positive it won't.

I know for a fact that I'll never eat pork. We won't get into my reasons for that though.

And as far as any other meats are concerned, I guess we'll just have to see where life takes me.

So there it is: my fowl confession.

Have a wonderful Monday, darling readers, and stay tuned!

Go team!

We had some serious team spirit today...

This is the best one, as she seems to be asking: 'why are we taking all these photos?' LOL

Suiting up in our team's gear might not actually resulted in a win today, but we sure looked cute doing it.

What did you do this weekend?

Pretty dresses...

The Hubs is already done with his work week this week and its only Tuesday! :D Using some vacation days this month will be great, its always nice to have him around more often...

On Sunday The Hub's cousin got confirmed, so we had a big family lunch and Aurora got a chance to wear her pretty Easter dress that Momo sent her this year...

My two favorite people in the world...

This was actually from earlier in the weekend, but how freaking cute are these two?!

All that family fun proved to be a little too much for some of us...

Check out the confirmant himself with that cake!

She's such a big lady!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

E.C., Bay-bay.

We had a proper weekend breakfast today...I made waffles, and bacon for the Hubs! Roo digs those waffles!

Have you ever heard of E.C.?

That stands for Elimination Communication. Its something that some cultures around the world have always practiced with their babies, and mamas in some Western countries and cultures are starting to catch on to as well.

That includes us!

I'd encourage all mamas with little ones to at least read up on the subject and be aware of it, so I'm including a link to the E.C. web resource for my readers...

We're definitely sold on the idea around here, as its been a full week now since we've changed a poopy diaper!

You read that right. Aurora is 8-months old, and using the potty.

Elimination Communication, as you can learn from the web resource I linked to above, is essentially learning to interpret your baby's own cues and signals in order help them be diaper-free.

Its been an amazing ride already, and I'm so glad the Hubs and I are on the same page with trying to use E.C. and help Roo start to use the toilet already!

It's been very easy for us, and a big success so far.

Aurora has pooped on the potty every day for the past week, and even peed a few times on it too...I can't help but be floored over the idea!

Finding the rhythm that works for you and your family is necessary to do E.C. with your baby...here's what we do:

When we see Aurora needs to use the facilities, we just carry her into the bathroom and sit with her while she does her business atop her little potty-seat on the toilet.
We also let her sit on the potty for a few minutes when we're routinely changing her diaper.
We use the ASL (American Sign Language) sign for toilet to her while she's going and praise and praise her for it.
Then when she's done, we clean her off, put a new diaper on her again, and go about our daily business again.

Once you know your baby's cues and signals they give before they need to use the toilet, can get them to the bathroom quickly, then use tons of positive reinforcement to encourage them to do their business on the toilet while you sit near them, it's so easy to do E.C...and wonderful to not have to deal with poopy diapers too!

We'll keep practicing E.C. with Aurora, and I'm excited to see her progress with it...I can't wait until she starts showing us the sign for toilet when she needs to go!

Have you/do you practice E.C. with your babies?

I'd love to hear from other E.C. mamas out there, so weigh in with your experience in the comments section below!

Get your read on!

Since today is World Book Day, -and I'm a huge and lifelong bookworm-  I thought I would just pop in real quick and share some books with you all, my beloved readers, that I am totally stoked for this year! :D

Some of these have been released already, and some are yet to come, but they are all new in 2013...

And I've even already pre-ordered some of them, so they'll arrive right here at my door as soon as they are released!

If you can manage, pop out and pick up a book you're excited about today.

And remember to support your local booksellers!

Are there any books coming out this year, or that have already come out this year that you're especially excited about?
I'd love to hear what you're going to dive into this year, so leave your big reads (anticipated or already read) in the comments section below!

Sunday photos

Well we might have rearranged plans on Saturday this week so that we ended up staying home so I could make a big family dinner for my in-laws, but it was still a really fun, packed weekend around here...here's a photo dump to prove it!

I win at muffins, y'all. My in-laws agreed. ;)

 After church today, the Hubs and I packed up Roo and went along with my friend and her baby on a long walk around town and had a picnic lunch...it was such a nice Sunday...

How rad is this new playground piece right outside our homechurch location?!

One of the victorian-era drinking fountains in the park...

this baby reigns over the fountain...just wish it had been turned on!

the art museum!

Who knew Haugesund had some rad street-art? This pedestrian-crossing tunnel was filled with a street-art exhibition that I just loved! Naughty Spongebob jacked Donald's flipper, yo.

A little rhyme in Norwegian that means: 'Follow your dreams, not the current'. :)

The Hubs liked the Mario Cart part the best...

Them swans be all over the lake...

Roo took to the swing like a fish in water! As soon as we put her in the seat, she held onto the bar and was laughing and smiling the whole time! If you 'like' the LiO Facebook page, you have access to a video of Roo's first time on the swings, so give that 'like' button some love and check it out!

Roo's little buddy Linnea wasn't too jazzed about the swings, but took her turn too!

First time down the slide!

Roo says: 'This playground rocks!' (There's my friend and her baby Linnea in the background! :D )

Daddy and Roo even went down the big slide together!

Random and freaking awesome.

Then I bought some candy.