Welcome baby girl

Welcome baby girl

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Our little girl was born shortly after noon on sunday June 22. It was such a beautiful day and she was so alert and awake. We were home the morning after and now, almost two weeks after she was born, it feels like she’s been around forever.

It’s very common in Iceland that babies get their name announced at their christening which can be a couple of months after they are born but we decided to announce her name when she was a couple of days old, her name is Rakel.

Rakel is adjusting well to her new surroundings, drinks like a champ and delivers in her diaper like a pro. That’s how we roll these days. (more…)

Hello, again

Hello, again

A while ago I decided to change the name for my blog. I’ve been blogging at www.daia.is for a while, with irregular intervals but I felt the name didn’t describe anything that people could relate to, it’s just a part of my nickname. So I registered nordicmum.com and for the last few weeks I’ve been moving things over. If any of you are coming over from there I’d like to welcome you. 馃檪

I also made a new twitter account because I’ll be using the other one increasingly for icelandic tweets and I know that can be a drag when people get a language that they don’t understand in their timeline.

I guess it all comes down to content strategy and consistency. This place will have similar focus as my old site; living in the north, my projects as a designer, creating beautiful surroundings and last but not least being a mummy.

Now as we’re expecting our third (we already have a 5 and a 10 year old), the motherhood role will be my focus point as it has been for the past 10 years. I’m looking forward to the times ahead and I hope you’ll stick around.

Little one on the way

Little one on the way

After a few weeks of feeling rather miserable, with 24/7 morning sickness and an appetite according to that and the fatigue that was exaggerated with not eating all that much, I’m starting to feel so much better. Thank God. Everything is for a good cause and this baby is so welcome to our family, her brothers are thrilled with the addition and my younger one can’t wait to become a big brother because he adores his own big brother so much. 馃槈
So it’s week 25 right now. Only 15 weeks to go.

 

At 18 weeks when I was

At 18 weeks

 

Thing is, with this one being our third we don’t really have much to buy or take care of. We got a pram, a cot, lots of clothes and accessories – although most of them are blue-ish if this turns out to be a girl which is very likely (the doctor who did the ultrasound was not 100% sure) then my sisters both have 1-3 year old girls and we lend and borrow from each other. Lack of pink won’t be a problem. 馃槈
We also have a spare room in our house which will be turned into a baby room at some point and that will be very thrilling, I love decorating the house. There’s one thing we need though, a name. I thought that it wouldn’t be a problem since there are so many girls names that we adore, but choosing the right one is a puzzle. Maybe it will come to us when we meet her.

Welcome 2014!

Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year!
2013 was a good but a quiet year for us. We did a little bit of traveling, a lot of working, visiting friends and stayed healthy – which we are very thankful for – but there was not much action and I can’t really believe that there’s nothing that stands out.
Apart from one thing, in late October I found out that in June next year we’ll be adding to the family! 馃檪 We’ve been to two ultrasounds and seen the little one kick and suck his thumb. Such a blessing! I’ve been feeling rather miserable though, done some proper porcelain hugging in November and got into the Christmas spirit a bit later than usual in December.

Christmas and the New Year was good though. The boys got new skis from us, ski boots and a helmet (which is a mandatory equipment up here) and we’ve been to the ski resort (about 10 min drive up the mountain) once since and they just loved it! I gave my hubby new Salomon winter shoes and got a “Hurom” slow juicer for Christmas from them, which I absolutely love!

School will start on Monday (Jan 6th) so we have the weekend to turn on the daily routine and get the boys to wake up at proper hours… I have a hunch that it’s going to be hard!

Officially Christmas ends on Jan 6th in Iceland, that’s 13 days from Christmas when the last of the 13 Santa’s will return to their home in the mountains. The decorations and the Christmas tree will be safely packed and stored (we have a plastic one, once had a living tree and the grief in January was just too sad..) but I think we’ll allow the Christmas lights in the windows to stay up, because it’s still so bloody dark all day outside.

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New Years Eve dinner at my inlaws, along with my parents. My hubby was the photographer.

We did shoot some fireworks at our New Years party but it was nowhere near as crazy as in Reykjavik. The thing is, everybody is allowed to buy fireworks from Dec 28-31 and the main retailer is the “Icelandic Association of Search and Rescue” and it’s their biggest fundraising project each year. They enjoy tremendous goodwill around here and people are eager to support them by buying fireworks. That can be easily seen in a video such as this cool one. Taken by a guy who just got a small remote helicopter and a GoPro camera.

Autumn colors

Autumn colors

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We went for a walk in the woods this weekend. It’s so refreshing, a bit chilly (around 5掳c) but not very cold. The thing with low temperature in Iceland it feels much warmer than it sounds because the air is so dry. The athmosphere in the mainland is much higher in humidity so the cold can really sneak into your bones. I felt that when I was living in Denmark, never ever been as cold as there.

But the autumn colors are really coming in strong these days, the obscure sunlight and the powdered mountain tops give the views a whole new dimension. Love it.

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It almost looks christmas-y.

 

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The pathway was getting filled with leaves.

 

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My little Emil playing “Indiana Jones and the adventures in Kjarnask贸gur..” haha..

 

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A sun-watch on a hill watching over, showing rightfully 15:30 (we checked!)

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My 9 yr old Daniel got thirsty and decided to take a sip from the freshwater creek. Amazingly he didn’t get wet at all, just the tip of his toes and nose.

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A selfie in the woods.

 

Autumn chores

Autumn chores

Summer ended officially today when we dissembled the trampoline in the backyard and placed it in storage in the garage. It has served well this summer, the boys have been active and I actually love jumping on it myself. One notices after just a couple of minutes that it takes a great deal of energy to jump there and it’s really amazing that kids actually spend hours there. Well, mine do. With bathroom and water breaks.

But on Monday apparently it will start snowing.

 

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