Thanksgiving 2017

I never expected to reach Thanksgiving Day this year since my due date was on November 16th.  I thought I'd be holding a newborn in my arms, potentially still at the hospital or maybe just coming home days before the big holiday.  As the days ticked by without the arrival of our little guy, Chelsea and I started to play with the idea of having a "simple" Thanksgiving dinner together IF I wasn't in labor or at the hospital.  As each day passed, we solidified more plans to enjoy the holiday together and suddenly Thanksgiving Day arrived.  

Ironically, I had an appointment at the hospital that morning to see how things were going with the baby.  I was 11 days over due which is when the Norwegian health system will start to consider inducing labor.  Chelsea started on the Thanksgiving preparations while watching my youngest two children while I hurried off to my appointment.  After a kick test and monitoring the baby's heartbeat along with an ultrasound to check that everything was as it should be, I was told to come back on Monday evening (if nothing happened between now and then) and I would be induced.  I asked the Doctor if he would be willing to strip my membranes for me (hoping that would start labor for me) which he did but he quickly told me that the cervix was not softening and I hadn't started to dilate.  

Now, slightly more uncomfortable than before, I hurried home and starte to help Chelsea with our feast!

Rolls, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli salad and stuffing were on our menu.  All pretty easy to make and relatively kid friendly as well.

Our husbands showed up in the early afternoon to help wrangle kids, we moved the table into the living room and checked and then double checked to make sure we had everything we needed!

YUM!

This bird was the center of our attention and Chelsea did an amazing job preparing it!

Chris did the carving and then it was time for the gratitude and happiness to begin!

A quick group picture and then we got started!

The kids hardly touched the food.  I think all of them ate at least one roll, a small bite of turkey and they sampled the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.  One by one they declared that they were finished and suddenly we found ourselves sitting at a table full of food!

We tried to express gratitude and even asked the kids what they were grateful for.  And then we came to the common conclusion that Thanksgiving and 6 kids under 6 was an interesting combination.  Not bad, not awful, just interesting.  

 Amazingly enough, their appetites suddenly appeared when we brought out the pies (made by Chelsea), ice cream and whipped cream!

Because, really...

 who doesn't LOVE pie and ice cream?!?

 I was so full at this point that I was actually starting to hope that I wouldn't go into labor that evening because I was positive I'd throw up!  

Right at the end of our evening, my brain realized that within a few short days, our family would be changing forever so I begged the kids to take a picture together.  Our last official picture as a family of six!

 To say that we are grateful for this "adoptive" family is an understatement.  The Hills have become our extended family.  We would be lost without them and their friendship means the world to us.  

 We joked that some day in the future we will share a Thanksgiving dinner together with children that are grown and actually eat the food we've prepared and we will laugh about how we tried so hard to get them to finish their rolls when they were little.  

But for now, we will just celebrate the eating of rolls and be grateful for that!

Preparing for baby

The last few weeks have been a marathon of making room for our newest Olsen Circus member.  The first big move was putting the three oldest children in the same room.  Joseph was super excited to move into Nathan and Lydia's room!  

We changed his old room into a playroom so that the kids have somewhere that is just theirs.

We moved furniture around and by moving things around, we suddenly had piles of "stuff" all over the place.  

Kjetil asked me one Sunday evening, 

"Have you thought about where you are going to put the baby's clothing?"

Ummmm, on him?!?  

But he was thinking more about WHERE the clothes would go.  We have two dressers for the children and they are completely full.  There is also limited space for a new dresser.  We had to think creatively and move a few things around but we managed to move the changing table downstairs.  Suddenly, his impending arrival seemed more "real".  

Then this showed up unexpectedly in our mailbox -

New clothes for the little one!

The days started to tick by and suddenly we were at 40 weeks - 

ohhhhh sooooo pregnant!

Even though I was nearing my due date, there were absolutely no signs of our little baby making his debut into this world.

Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because suddenly our house was hit with the dreaded cold!  Add in a few small children throwing up and everyone staying home to suffer through the sicky-sicks together and you get this...

That is true suffering!  I have never experienced congestion like I did with this cold.  It was like cement in my sinuses and I literally could not get it to move.  After about a week of suffering, I went to a Doctor and they gave me a prescription that started to work almost immediately.  The children slowly got better and I reached a point where I actually felt slightly ready for our baby to come.

But, he wasn't quite ready!  

Kjetil and I tried our best to be patient and we even made sure to make the outside world look as appealing as possible for his arrival.  A warm fire, tasty treats and hot tea made for a cozy date night! 

Kjetil also humored me and did facials with me one evening!  

Anything to pass the time...

So, now we wait...and wait...and WAIT...

November in a flash

We have all been anxiously waiting for November to arrive so that our next phase of life can begin.  A new little brother and a new phase of the Olsen Circus!

While we waited, we tried to have some fun too but as I have gotten to the end of my pregnancy, it has become harder and harder to take all the little ones outside.  We did walk down to barnehage at the beginning of the month and the kids LOVED playing on the swing together.

I am always amazed at how fast and how high they can get that swing going!

Nathan and Joseph have a touch and go relationship.  They LOVE being together but they also know how to irritate each other!  Some mornings, they play happily and some mornings it is a constant fight.  Joseph really enjoys copying anything that Nathan does.  

It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change between these two boys when they receive a new little brother.  

I love seeing their creativity. 

 This particular morning they were pretending to be driving a train.

And this day, they had been at home with my friend Chelsea while I went grocery shopping.  They made some paper bag puppets and then put together an entire show for me when I got home.

The laughter from behind the couch was probably the best part!

Emily has more personality than any of us know what to do with!  This girl has discovered that she LOVES tight spaces.  Her favorite place is between the toilet and the vanity in the bathroom.

She is all smiles when she sees the camera and will even say "cheese" when it is time to take a picture!  

She is obsessed with the bathroom.  She screams to brush her teeth and will run off with any toothbrush that she can get her hands on.  Emily enjoys dumping out my laundry baskets and filling up the washing machine.  She flushes the toilet whenever she comes into the bathroom.  In addition, she will start to take her clothes off if she thinks she has a shot at taking a bath or shower. 

Emily does not like to be left behind.  If the other kids are allowed to do something or go somewhere, she is running right behind them!  She hurries around finding her shoes, her socks (that she ALWAYS takes off), her coat and her hat.  Unfortunately, she isn't always allowed to tag along.  This particular Sunday afternoon, she was frantic to join her siblings and her pappa when they went to the school to play soccer.  While she toddled around, they snuck out the door and then she lost her mind!

Which I completely understand - she tried HARD! 

 A hat, wool slippers and her pacifier makes for the perfect outfit for being outside in the cold night!

Our last two weeks have been rather "eventful" in the way of sickness.  Fevers, throwing up, deep coughs, runny noses and so much more!

Sickness is never fun but seeing as the last two weeks have been my last two weeks of pregnancy, it has added an extra element of work and patience.  This was a normal sight most mornings in our house.  Luckily, everyone seems to be on the mend which is a wonderful thing!

Lydia got to spend the weekend with Farmor and Farfar.  She was thrilled about being on her own all weekend and she even got to help Farmor prepare a special treat for a Father's Day dinner on Sunday.

I thought that I would miss Nathan and Lydia's primary program since my due date was a week and a half before their program.  Luckily, for them and for me, their little baby brother is very comfortable inside of me and still hasn't made his appearance.

We have been practicing their lines and Erna even came with a new dress for Lydia yesterday.  Lydia was THRILLED about a new dress and agreed to let me use our spiral curlers in her hair.  Every single time I do her hair with these curlers, I suffer from hair envy.  Throw in a matching little sister and adorable smiles - my heart could burst!

Lydia asked to wear one of my necklaces which she held safely in her little hand throughout the entire program.  At least until it slipped under her dress and she couldn't figure out how to get it back out.  She had me giggling and she tried her best to find that stubborn little necklace!

Ohhhh if only I could have hair like this girl!

Lydia is very excited about the arrival of her new little brother and she asks me frequently when he will come.  She loves small children and babies and I think she will be quite a helper once he arrives.  

Lydia, oh Lydia, you are so pretty-a!

Both Nathan and Lydia did a wonderful job today.  They spoke clearly, they sang beautifully and they smiled happily.  It was fun to see them shine!

November will be over in just a few days and over the course of those days, our life as a family of six will advance to life as a family of SEVEN!  This boy is proving to pave his own way even before he is born and we are all trying to be patient while he starts his journey in this family!

October highlights

There were quite a few exciting things that happened in October.  It feels like that month flew by!

Nathan had his first concert with his music class.  We signed him up for a culture and music class that happens once a week after school.  He seems to really enjoy it and comes home singing new songs every week.  He was a little nervous about his concert but once he got there, he was all smiles!

We tried to make sure the kids saw at least a small portion of General Conference this year.  We promised them a special treat if they could endure and Nathan was instantly onboard!  He actually sat mostly quiet through an entire session and both Kjetil and I were amazed at how well he did.  

(He asked us to take this picture of him which we happily did)

This little girl had a harder time focusing during the session but I don't think she was the only one in the world enjoying General Conference in this particular way! 

Emily seemed particularly enthralled with the music.  Her little chubby legs and that diaper bum just makes a mamma smile!  :)

We moved Joseph in to Nathan and Lydia's room to free up some space and in hopes that he might sleep a little better.  He has been begging us to sleep with him so we thought that if he could sleep with his siblings, he might feel a little more safe.  Unfortunately, it hasn't proven to help all that much.  He is still the last one to fall asleep and he is starting to wake up earlier with the other two.  His sweet little attitude and personality is now being tainted by tiredness and exhaustion.  More fits, more irritation and more crying.  

The funny thing is, I find him resting all of the time - 

he will find a blanket and a pillow and snuggle up all on his own.  He is a boy that knows his limits and even if he suddenly has become emotionally challenging, it is so cute to see him snuggle down for a little rest!

Plus, he LOVES to sleep like this!  It cracks me up every single time I find him like this.  Why use the whole bed when you can just sleep at the very top?!?

We are trying to take advantage of the days when the sun is shining and we can be outside.  With my due date approaching, our time outside is limited!  Joseph (and Emily) watched a digger work for about 20 minutes straight after we dropped Lydia off at preschool.  

I tried multiple times to get him to move onto another activity but he wasn't going to budge!

All of the kids have become more and more interested in coloring and drawing.  Nathan hasn't really been interested in artistic activities but since starting school, he has discovered that he quite enjoys it. Lydia has always been more inclined to color and likes to use her time to make pretty pictures.  It is fun to see their different styles and skills.  Emily just likes to rip the paper and eat the crayons! ;)

Lydia really can sit for quite some time with a project.  She doesn't like to be rushed or hurried.  When the little kids are napping on Saturdays, Nathan usually runs outside and Lydia will sit for a good 30-45 minutes creating little works of art.  

Joseph is getting better at riding his balance bike and is LOVING being with the bigger kids.  He begged to ride his bike down to barnehage and made it all the way down without any problems.  My little biker gang is getting bigger and bigger!

Nathan has taken on his role as Big Brother and the Oldest more seriously lately.  It is almost like he knows there is a change coming.  Since he comes home from school before Lydia comes home from barnehage, he has more time with his little siblings.  This particular day, he took them for a walk around the block.  He is very excited about the new baby and often asks how much longer it will be until he arrives.  I am anxious to see how he handles a new little person in his life! 

I also passed my 36 week mark and we are heading quickly into the last few weeks of this pregnancy! Time will tell if he follows the same pattern as the others (coming a week late) or if he decides to shake things up a little!