weekend round-up

First off: on Tuesday we got (drum-roll please) Judge's joining family resident visa in the mail! That's right folks, not only did the process go beyond lightning quick (in visa-processing terms, and even more so in Norwegian government paper-terms), but the lady who had called me the preceding Friday had found a loop-hole I had not thought of that made it all follow the letter of the law. Thank goodness for good people, as she could just have easily rejected our application. The loop-hole: "Requirement for previous earnings was dropped as the sponsor (me) had extended her stay in Taiwan after completing her studies in order to marry and give birth" (if you were a student the preceding year you are exempt from the previous earnings' requirement). Though not technically how I was thinking it at the time, it is in effect true, and we most definitely accept her analysis of the situation (!). So that also means: Hello Taiwan in February :D

In potty-news: After a week of consistently keeping Leona diaper-free during non-excursions and non-sleeps, there is most definitely improvement in the pee-department. Yay! I realized, though, that saying we're 'potty training' may be a bit of a stretch, seeing as she still wears a diaper as much as she does, so really perhaps we have just kicked up the ECing to another level. In any event, once we feel comfortable with the at-home situation we will expand it to out-of-house as well, and then nap, and lastly night sleeps.

And in other-baby news, I still feel junk most days when we get to around noon and onward, though not near as bad as before. So that is good! I can now more actively play/help with Leona, and can even help with the dishes sometimes.

I'm also on various hunts, some of which have already been successfully completed. For example:

• baby carrier - got a 2nd hand sand-colored manduca (the color being better for sunny Taiwan days - and the 2nd hand meaning we can eat two *fantastically delicious* dinners in Taiwan on the savings)
• 2nd (*not* hand) car seat - got a maxi-cosi mobi that is rear-facing from 9-25 kg (so awesome!)
• Funny story that. After purchasing it online I had forwarded the purchase confirmation to my mom with the following email (in full):
• So we've bought a rear-facing car-seat for Leona that's good from 9-25kg, so 'mini' can use the one Leona has now :) We will be trying to bring the new one to TW this time so that she can sit rear-facing while we're there, and then we'll take the little one we have in TW back to Norway for mini to use while we're here, then just bring Leona's current one to TW in the fall. That's the plan at least ;)
• Got an email back from Jollyroom's customer service: Hi Johanna. That's great! Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
• Oooooops, I guess that was 'reply' not 'forward'.
• double stroller - am thinking I will wait until we're in Taiwan, as it will be cheaper there, and more size-appropriate (in terms of walking down the street or through stores). I do think it most definitely will be necessary when we live in China, though I may just even wait until we've been there a month or so to really get a feel for our needs

And I'm actually looking forward to January sales this year, as I want to see if I can get Leona and mini some 50% off duplo stuff - because duplo rocks! As well as some maternity clothes I guess, as I will be needing that sooner rather than later.

Lastly, yesterday we headed over to my mom's co-worker's home for a lovely noon visit (she has two girls around 8 and 11 - I think, who really like Leona). So I got Leona all dressed up, 2nd time ever since we got to Norway (1st time was 17th of May):

[She is such a ham when she fake-talks on the phone]

[Note she only gets to use Judge's phone, which is a good ol' Nokia, not smart-kind at all, yet she can act as enraptured in it as we are in our screens]

.