May 17 - May 20, 2012

Thursday, May 17th

Happy Syttende Mai! Today is Norwegian Constitution Day which celebrates Norway's national independence (only since 1814!). Every year we celebrate with flags, wearing our national costumes, etc. and with food. This was Olivia's first Syttende Mai (which literally means Seventeenth of Mai) and we were prepared to make it a memorable one. We hung out our homemade (by my Daisy Scout troop last year) flag. Then we took some festive photos of Olivia - some wearing a Norwegian hat my mother bought before I was born (and which I wore of course), with gjetost (Norwegian brown goat cheese), in the rosemaled wedding bowl my mother painted for us, and in a bib from our cousins. She was such a good sport! Her good humor, the sunshine and the celebratory nature of the day all helped to perk me up - because I was sporting a cold. Thankfully Adam was able to come home early and help out.

 

 In the afternoon I went to the doctor and had an interesting encounter in the waiting room. A lady said, "Oh! You're celebrating your independence!" (I was wearing a jersey of the Norwegian flag.) After some conversation I discovered that her employer, an older gentleman who owns an antique store on Airport Way, was also celebrating Syttende Mai. I decided right away that we would have to go and see him.

So when I got home we piled into the car and went looking for the (only?) antique store flying the Norwegian flag. We found it easily enough! (It was the one we had expected.) Inside we met Lud Bergh, a charming man and we talked with him for a while - about Norway, about babies, about the army. It was a real treat to meet him and I hope that we can get together again soon. He took our picture and emailed me a copy. I also snapped a photo of him, although he was a little shy because he had recently had cataract surgery and was wearing protective glasses.

Next we headed up to the Gardens to transplant some of our seedlings and to help with preparations for the plant sale this weekend. We transplanted cucumbers and cabbage and then helped with pricing and assembling some shelves. Olivia laid on a blanket and chatted with Katie's friendly dog.

We were all tired after working at the GBG so we ordered some pizza to pick up and then went home. It wasn't long before we were all snoring. What a happy 17th of May!

Friday, May 18th

Today started bright & early. I went to the Garden to help load plants into every vehicle we had available - which included the Blazer - and then we took them in a convoy up to Risse's Greenhouse where the sale was going to be held. We spent a couple hours organizing things there, but with all the volunteers that showed up we made short work of it! It was nice to be out in the sunshine and as long as I was moving, my cold was hardly noticeable. Meanwhile, Adam & Olivia waited at home for the cable repair man. It also seemed clear that they both caught my cold. Boo. I felt bad about that, but Adam did a great job of managing things with Olivia all morning.

I came home around lunchtime to a baby sleeping peacefully in the swing. I know she hadn't been peaceful the whole time I was away, and it was an interesting role reversal for Adam & I. It was very nice to come home to 'sweet' Olivia. :)

Our cable has been giving us fits and we've called several times to try and have it repaired remotely. Once all those attempts were exhausted, they finally sent this fellow out. His diagnosis - it wasn't a problem with the cable, it is a problem with our television. We tried the 'fix' that he suggested, which was to put the cable box on a different tv, and it turns out...we were right. Of course. For a couple weeks we'd been discussing eliminating cable altogether and just keeping our internet access. Since Adam's been home we've hardly watched it and we have a multitude of dvds to watch. Both of us get most of our daily news online. And we honestly have more fun playing with Olivia than watching any show. Today's repair fiasco settled the issue. We are officially done with cable.

Today we got our new diaper liners in the mail! We ordered Bumkins flushable, (biodegradable), liners to help keep Olivia's cloth diapers nice now that things are a little more...solid. So far they're working great!!

After Olivia woke up we prepared our bags for an extended outing - our evening shift at the plant sale is several hours long. We packed up the cable boxes to return to GCI and we loaded a laundry basket full of tag sale items into the trunk. We dropped those off at Jessica A's house to add to her table at tomorrow's post-wide tag sale.

We had a lovely time at Risse's and it always feels good to help out - especially for such a deserving organization. Olivia helped with the cash transactions, although she was more interested in eating the money. We tried out the prepacked organic baby food I got and she ate it all up! Yum! I am glad because we'll be able to take those on the plane...I think.

As the evening sales slowed down and we realized that there were plenty of volunteers, Katie sent us home. Olivia was just starting to fuss, so that was a good thing.

Saturday, May 19th

We had no obligations this morning so we tried to have a nice quiet morning at home. This didn't really work because both Adam & I have a hard time sitting still when there are chores to be done. I was still a little groggy from the DayQuil I had taken the night before, so I dozed & nursed Olivia. Adam bustled about cleaning and cleaning. He is seasoning several cast iron pans - it is his new passion. Just when I 'got him back' from the birch syrup...here comes cast iron! Just teasing...

All of us had colds today and poor Olivia was very unhappy with her stuffy nose. Not much to do but snuggle her and try to keep her as comfortable as possible. Adam & I got some lunch in town and did a couple of quick errands, but mostly we stayed close to home.

In the afternoon we went to a birthday party for Cooper B., who is turning 3! It was a dinosaur party and we all had lots of fun. Olivia was in good spirits for a while, but we ended up leaving the party early. It was close to her bedtime and we didn't want to get the other guests sick, or make them listen to a crying baby.

Sunday, May 20th

This morning Olivia & I took Adam out for breakfast. We went to Denny's, per his request, and Olivia finally had her picture taken under the Denny's sign. (Adam has been itching to do that since she was born!) Olivia was very interested in my pancakes with bananas & strawberries so I mashed up some of the bananas and she ate them right up!

We did a couple more errands - stopping in Jo-Ann fabrics and OfficeMax - and then we went home. It was a beautiful day out so we enjoyed the drive.

Tonight Olivia tried sweet potatoes for the first time. She really enjoyed them! I'm not sure which part she like more - eating them or playing with them. She just discovered that she can reach in her mouth and play with the food on her tongue. She was covered in sweet potatoes, but happy! It was a good way to end the day - with a happy, sweet, messy baby.