Royal travel companion

When we were checking in the luggage from Tromsoe to Oslo there was a lady standing to the side with tons of bags, and police bringing more in for her. Judge commented on it, but I just shrugged and didn't take a closer look at her. When we got on the flight, instead of just 'Ladies and Gentlemen' they always started with 'Your Majesty, Ladies and Gentlemen'. So that explained it, she was some kind of European royal; Judge mentioned that when we were waiting at the gate, she had been sitting alone at one of the tables there, reading a book.

Anyhow, a friendly flight attendant came over after dropping off Leona's plane-toys, and asked Leona if she could hold her (and then looked at us asking with her eyes as well) - and surprisingly enough Leona actually reached out her hands to be picked up! So she picked her up, and asked if she could take her for a walk - and I said as long as Leona is fine with it, it is ok. So they went to the front of the cabin - I thought for a moment she would take her in to the cockpit but nope - and then they stopped on the way back saying hi to someone - I saw Leona pointing at the person, and the flight attendant wanting to bring her finger down, but not actually doing it really actively.

When they came back, the flight attendant said: "So now she's said hi to - and pointed at - the Queen." "Which Queen?" I asked. "Queen Sonja" (the queen of Norway), "she really loves kids, and waved back at her with both of her hands."

Pretty darned cool if you ask me. Not only that Leona got to say hi to the Queen and the Queen interacted with her personally, but that the Queen travelled so unobtrusevly. No own plane, no blocking us off, just travelling like any one of us...except for the masses of luggage and police help.

Since I didn't get a chance to capture it live, we got this shot in walking through the international departures section in Oslo:

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the 33-hour door-to-door trip

We're back in Taiwan for Chinese New Year, and with that came the trip here, which lasted about 33 hours from we left home (Tromsoe) until we arrived home (Jhudong).

The night before we left, I woke up at 4am and couldn't fall asleep again, as I was worried about our luggage being over the limit. So after tossing and turning, I re-checked the various airlines' limits that we were taking, and when we got up, I took some of the stuff out and re-weighed them (on the scale we bought just for luggage-weighing purposes, as we didn't have a scale from before), just to be on the safe side.

All together we brought with us two big suitcases weighing in at about 20-21 kg each, two carry-ons weighing in at about 8 kg each, my diaperbag not filled with much, Leona's new car seat (the one that can be rearward facing up to 25 kg), and our back-pack baby-carrier that we had stuffed about 3 kg worth of honey in that we were gifting to family here :P

90% of the content in our luggage was gifts for family, or clothes that are too small for Leona (so perfect hand-me-downs) or too big for her (that she can wear in the fall or next winter) - these latter items being in preparation to lessen the amount of stuff we need to bring back in the fall.

It wasn't until we checked in at Oslo without a hitch that I was finally able to lower my shoulders in relief and relaxation.

[Leona with our carry-on - and an apple -

after we got the rest of the luggage checked in Oslo]

All in all it went exceptionally well. We transferred in Oslo, London and Hong Kong. Leona was able to take an hour's nap in Oslo during our 5 hour layover, and then slept a bit on the long haul to Hong Kong (as did both Judge and I). She also only cried a little a few times (espesially on the flight to Taipei, as by then she was just completely over-tired and hungry, and I wasn't up for nursing her the whole flight), and she only went to the bathroom in her diaper about twice (on the long 11 hour flight-stretch and the flight to Taipei - because she is scared of the plane-bathrooms). And then we were landed at Taipei and back in the land of humidity and greenery.

Driving from Taipei to Jhudong, looking out at the lights and traffic and buildings, it was like we had never left. A strange feeling.

[Leona loving the play-plane at Oslo Airport]

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Sun's back! - and 21 month round-up

So, the sun has been back five days already, but I have yet to actually see her because she doesn't shine at work yet, it's been snowing, and now that it's the weekend and clear or semi-clear skies we're not out and about in places where the sun hits yet (well, tomorrow we were originally planning on a ski and sled excursion, but after today's stroll to town and shopping trip we are left exhausted and ready to just stay home and clean house :P).

But just the actual light in the sky actually makes a big difference for me I've noticed. It feels so good! Like life is better somehow with it there. It holds an energy or a promise. Just like the first evening where there was actual darkness this fall. I find it all quite interesting.

But in any event, I will be seeing the sun in 10-11 days no matter what, if not with my feet on the earth then at least up high in the sky, as we are heading to Taiwan for 3+ weeks next Tuesday. Needless to say we are *excited*.

In Leona news,

• she started saying her name a couple days ago - previously she's always referred to herself as 'baby' (we call her Baby Leona a lot) - now she'll say 'Noona' for the most part, and sometimes 'Moona'. Just the cutest ever. (Not like 'Noona wants something', but if we say Leona she repeats 'Noona).
• she's been about two weeks accident free (minus a day a couple days ago where she even peed on Judge - twice! She's never, ever peed on us before...except when she was just a few months old and I was being daring with the ECing that is) - she still has a diaper when she sleeps and when we head out though, but that still leaves a lot of potty-action at home
• she created another sign: plate, which is similar to turtle (which is like doing the breast-stroke and saying a hard 'aaahhhh' at the same time...sign made by Judge) but upward...kind of like 'up (or out?) came the sun' in itsy-bitsy spider. Previously she's only signed and said bowl.
• she now sleeps through the night (!!!!). She nurses before bed, wakes up when I come in to sleep, but does not sit up or ask to nurse, and then I wake her up before I head to work so she can nurse, and she goes back to sleep for a few more hours. There is no crying (most nights), and no other wake-ups for nursing.
• she also has cut back on the 'got home from work' nurse to just a minute or so sometimes, and even skipped it once. I'm pretty sure this and the point above are intimately connected with my milk supply and the taste of the milk in terms of the pregnancy, but I feel it is good for me, as well as her - full night's sleep is good and healthy! And at 21 months old nursing 8 times a day is not necessary - 3 or however many she's wanting is just fine for us ;)
• she absolutely loves her sled - now that we have snow, finally, Judge even takes her to the store across the street on it, and they park it on the mezzanine outside our apartment's front door - every time we head out and she sees it her eyes light up and she does her car sound and wants to take it as her method of transportation

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more on the ultrasound

So after thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that I was mistaken; I'm pretty sure that it actually was a level 3 ultrasound that we had done last thursday (and thus have slightly edited the post :P). The only thing different from Taiwan was that they didn't also do 3D and 4D, and that she didn't flip the switch to see the blood-flow direction in and out of the heart. She did flip it twice though to show blood-flow for something else (forget what it was now). And then there's the fact that the detail regarding the brain and heart (e.g., seeing all the chambers of the heart and the valves between the chambers etc.) was so, well, detailed.

So that's good!

Another fun fact I forgot to mention was how as soon as the baby came up on the screen, Leona looked at her and did her sign-and-sound for gorilla. I couldn't help but laugh, and say yes, the baby does kind of look like a gorilla up there huh.




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we ultrasounded today

Today was the big day. Judge and Leona met me and my mom at work (we work 1 min. walk from each other) and then we walked the 5 minutes to the hospital together for the ultrasound. And man, how different it was compared to our Taiwan-experiences!

First of all, the hospital-wards were basically empty - even at the ultrasound place. And when I say 'basically' I mean we passed one nurse on our way from ward A to ward C on the level we were on, and there was one nurse in the window at the ultrasound place. (Taiwan: Throngs and throngs of people everywhere).

Then we got called in pretty much on time on the dot (Taiwan: Have to wait quite a while - due to the throngs and throngs of preggees seeing the doctors).

There were two ultrasound technicians - one learning the ropes and one old-timer. They shook our hands in greeting, and poor Leona busted out crying hard-core when the nurse reached for her hand as she suddenly thought we were there for her to get a shot. The technician was great though, just acknowledging that Leona was scared and not trying to make her laugh or stop crying - seemed totally ok to let her work through the emotions.

Anyhow, so the old-timer explained exactly what they were going to look at and for, in detail, and then we were off. Was so happy my mom was able to come, as she wasn't able to experience my last pregnancy, and because she had never seen a live ultrasound before (they didn't do them when she was pregnant with me and my sister).

The old-timer was super thorough in her looking and measurements and explaining, sometimes more to the learnee than to us (so though I didn't understand it all, it was still quite interesting for me). While the old-timer was just getting warmed up, the learnee asked us if we would like to know the gender - if the baby was cooperative, and I said yes, definitely! And could almost feel the old-timer mentally shake her head exasperatedly.

Basically the old-timer totally didn't try to see the gender. I mean, she quickly scanned past the area, but didn't linger to try to get a better shot like she did for all other checks. Not that I am complaining - the ultrasound is to check the health and well-being of the baby, not for 'fun and games'. But still. She mentioned though that just because we didn't see a penis didn't necessarily mean it was a girl (and I said yes, we didn't see three lines either...and she seemed surprised that I would know, and said that's right, we didn't).

Then it was the learnee's turn, and mentioned she probably didn't have too much new stuff she could show us (as old-timer had done such a meticulous job), but pointed out the baby's ears when she took the head-measurement, then while the old-timer was over by the computer being busy, the trainee searched for a clear shot of the gender (and I felt like the old-timer was kind of fake-ignoring what was going on, though of course I could be totally off on this). Suddenly two clear parallel lines appeared, with a much shorter parallel line between them, and I smiled, and the trainee very happily and contentedly reported it looked like it's pretty definitely a girl! "Seems I was able to show you something more anyways." I could feel she understood it was important to us...not that we must know (and not that we wouldn't find out in another month when we go for our check-up while in Taiwan), but still, very grateful to ms trainee.

And thus I joyfully introduce to you Leona's little sister:

And thus we are now testing out her name 'for reals' to see if it feels right. But truthfully, unleass I stumble upon another one that is just fit-at-first-sound then this is it :P



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new year's eve

I have to say I rather enjoy new year's eve here in Tromsø. Not because we go to great parties with lots of good friends, or because the government puts on amazing fireworks shows (we stay home, and the government do a thing), but Norwegians love them their fireworks, so they are willing to really spend some big kroners. This, coupled with Tromsø's skyline, where we have been so lucky to live places both new year's eves where we have awesome and far-reaching views, provides us with really stellar fire-works displays.

So last year we all (me, Judge, Katrina, Sander and my mom) just stayed up and then Judge and I went out on the veranda for a super treat (we totally weren't expecting a good show). Poor Leona didn't have a grand time though, as the baby-call wasn't turned on or the battery was dead, and so she woke up and started crying, but we didn't hear her for a loooong time (I think...I mean 5-10 min is super long for her). Not so fun.

This year I went to bed around 10:30 pm (which is super late for me seeing as I've been going to bed around 7 for the past couple months almost) and then was woken up by the boom-boom-b'boooomboomboom'ing at 11:55pm, as they were literally exploding almost right by my window, as well as all around the near and far neighborhoods. So I got up and Judge and I watched them for about 20 min until they started to die down. Seriously - I think we get a better show than Taipei 101, it's that good. Big part of what makes it good is that we get to see so many going off all around near and far - basically as far as the eye can reach - and the eye reaches pretty far here. It really gives us the feel of being festive without having to be out and about :P

And the most amazing thing is that Leona actually slept through it all (!) - or if she woke up, she just went back to sleeping without a sound. Perhaps partially because the fireworks had been going off on and off since about 2pm (as it's alerady pitch-dark by then), and so she had heard them and seen them and so though it was more to the 1000th degree, it wasn't some scary new sound.

And with that we quietly rang in the new year.


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another year another visit - and some Leona updates

Last year my sister and brother-in-law came up to visit for about a week during the Christmas/New Year's vacation. It was great for many reasons, one being we were renting a house big enough that they could stay with us, so we got tons of hanging-out in. This time, though they didn't stay with us, we still got a good deal of hang-time, but the bummer was that both me and Judge got sick pretty much the day before they arrived.

Despite our lethargic selves, it was once again an awesome visit, with basically just a ton of chillaxin on the couch or window-sill, playing with and/or observing Leona and chatting, and tons of delicious meals.

A picture that I feel captures how much enjoyment was had beautifully:

[while enjoying a read with Katrina she also wanted to share with Sander

(reflected in the window) what she was reading;

here she was telling him she saw an elephant]

Leona loved having them here, getting them to help her go to the bathroom, wash her hands, read together, play with zippers, get pens and paper for her, and all other fun stuff.

Speaking of pens, it is her latest self-developed sign: hooking her thumb under her armpit. Soooooo curious as to why and how she came up with this particular sign. She also will say 'bee' for pen (in Chinese: bi3), and for me it can sound a lot like when she says 'pee' ... which doesn't mean she has to go pee, but rather that she just went.

Another sign she invented herself is for 'ring' - as in the kind you wear on your fingers - which is crossing her fingers (like in the American 'I am lying' or 'wishing' sign).

I so love how she is still coming up with new signs, while at the same time she has started talking a lot more too. A few other new words are 'poo' (for poop), 'mo-mo' (for mormor - grandma in Norwegian), 'mo' for more, ee'ee'ee'ee' for tortilla and quesadilla, and 'ah-to-ay' for 'en, to tre' (one, two, three in Norwegian). She also started having a sound for tante or auntie I believe, but it didn't have time to solidify by the time Katrina and Sander left. And she now goes 'brrr' and does a shiver for cold, says 'bo' or 'ba' for bowl and ball, and I am sure there is more.

This girl's a total bundle of fun.

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