Together with the boys

My partner started with a new working plan after New Year. Now he's working two weeks in Svea and having after that two weeks free. That means that when he's working, I'm alone two weeks with our boys, with our little son and our black coated companion. But when a working period is over, is my partner also totally free for next two weeks.

The first longer period alone with our boys went fine. Luckily our dog is an easy and really patient sheppard. I'm really happy now that I have used all those countless hours with our dog - that makes our life now much easier.

And our son - he's now two month old, happily smiling and making some really strange sounds. He's starting to be interested in different things and can be looking at some toys for a good while. Best thing after milk is to sit in mei tai (a baby sling) and follow what mummy is doing. And when he gets tired, he can be also having a nap there, feeling himself safe by mummys warm tummy.

There isn't any trees in Svalbard, so we got one from our friend. Now our son can be playing under an evergreen foliage.

New clothes to Emperor

Our son has managed to gain about two kilos in two months time. Mother's milk is powerfull stuff! I can clearly see how much he has grown - he's getting bigger and he's learning new things. It's just amazing how quickly time goes.

Last weekend I needed go through his clothes and pack away clothes which were getting too small for him. It was kind of sad to pack them on a cardboard box. There were lot of memories in those first small clothes. But in the same time it was nice to take new clothes on use. He has got lot of practical and beautiful clothes. Those clothes are already having memories in them - they remind me on those people we have got them from. As a mummy I'm really happy for all soft presents. And our son is far too small to understand that toys are something every child is hoping for. That age comes later!

Happy New Year 2014!

Christmas

We were celebrating Christmas with an other family with a little child. Christmas was time for good food, talking and board games for us grown ups, our son was consentrating on getting so much milk than possible.

One lady bought a Christmas tree but it was too tall for her, so she needed to cut the tree. The bottom part of the tree ended up on our friends house and there it was doing perfectly its duty as a Christmas tree.

Otherwise we were visiting people and getting visitors. Life has been so hectic lately, that it was nice to calm down and meet people we haven't met for a while and just sit down and use time with cosy chatting.

The picture above is from an evening with "Feuerzangenbowle". That is a German speciality, an alcoholic drink. There is a kettle with spiced red wine and over it's placed a sugarloaf which is burned with rum. Caramelized sugar drips in the drink and gives a good taste. That warm drink tasting a really good, but I hold anyhow with non-alcoholic drinks as I'm busy with nursing our son.

New home

We were planning to move to a new apartment before I was supposed to fly to Tromsø for to wait our sons delivery. We were thinking that it would be so nice to come back to a new apartment with the newborn. But things don't go always as planned. We managed to move half of our things to the new apartment when water suddenly broke and I was send with an ambulance flight to Tromsø. Everything just needed to be left as it was.

So, when we came back to Longyearbyen with our newborn son, we needed to continue with moving things and making the new apartment home. It's not an ideal situation to empty cardboard boxes between nursing and changing diapers, but it goes.

We got an apartment in Gruvedalen, up in the mountain side, in "Beverly Hills", as some people call it. Now in dark time we can enjoy a cosy view down to the town and towards airport. When the light comes back, we can see Hiorthfjellet, the mountain in the other side of fjord beside the town, and over Isfjorden, the big fjord.

Even though we have been busy just moving things in and putting them in places, managed we also make little Christmas as well. Our son is too small to realise it's Christmas, but it's cosy for us to celebrate in the darkest time of the year.

Alone with the boys

My partner has been having paternity leave since we got the baby. He got also little bit unplanned ekstra free because the baby came some weeks before the due date. It has been really nice to have him at home. But this weekend he left us first time alone and got to work in Svea. When you're working in Svea, then you're totally away over the working period as people are living there over the work weeks. Our son is now about one month old and everything is going fine with him, so it has been totally ok to stay home with him. My partner is also having now a shorter working period so he was supposed to be away only for four days. But because of the weather flights got cancelled and then he got an ekstra day in Svea. That's how the life is in Svalbard, you're always dependent on the weather.

Until now my partner has been having walks with our dog and I have been doing that if I have had an opportunity. Then I just went out mostly alone with the dog and my partner was staying in with the baby. I haven't taken our son out every day when it was temperatures around -20 centigrades. But it was good for me to have some walks anyhow. Now since my partner was away, it wasn't asking about an opportunity, now I needed to have some walks every day. Luckily our son have started to like to sleep in the baby carriage, so it has been fine to go out. And it's not only the dog who likes some walks - it's also mummy who likes to get fresh air.

A puny Christmas tree

Christmas time starts traditionally with a celebration around a Christmas tree at the market place. Celebration is specially important to children, but the Christmas tree is also delighting us grown ups. This year the Chrismas tree gave a talking point: Isn't it slightly puny? Yes, for sure it was, it was something pretty sad thing to look at, but at least we were having a real tree on our treeless island. But it wasn't only us who was wondering about the tree, it came to the national news in Norway as well. As a result of that we got a new tree. This time they really selected an impressive tree at the mainland. The new tree is the biggest Christmas tree I have seen here in Svalbard.

First outing in -22 centigrades

If we don't count travelling and a visit to them who took care of our dog while we were in Tromsø, we had our first outing together with our son couple of days ago in -22 centigrades. He got packed well in with couple of layers wool and a huge dress. First we walked to the health care center, where he got weighted and checked that everything was fine. He was grown a half a kilo in two weeks, so I guess he has got enough milk.

Then we had a tour to the local grocery and bought some food for us who can't be living just with milk. In afternoon we dressed him once more and drove to the airport. There we met our friend who was coming from the mainland and continiuing then with a local flight to Ny-Ålesund (a research settlement in north).

It was nice to see, that he was doing just fine with his clothing even though it was pretty cold. That's just good when he's living in a island of snow and ice. I think he's a tough guy to be just couple of weeks old.