Happy Halloween!

Silje was a pumpkin. You can't really see her costume in these pictures as much of it is covered by the carrier. Here's a picture I took with my phone last Friday on costume day at school, so you can see the whole costume.



And for the record, Stian was a dragon. He was getting kind of grumpy with people calling him a dinosaur all evening.

And if you are wondering what kind of weird earrings I'm wearing - they're spiders.

Moving up

For the last couple of months if you asked Stian what he wanted to be when he grew up he would answer with "goose poop" and then laugh. Today on the ride into school he told me he wanted to be a Navy's Blue Angels pilot. I thought that was quite the jump up from goose poop.

Sleeping

Silje's sleep has gotten really bad lately. She doesn't want to go to bed until late, and then wakes up at around 3:00 in the morning and decides she is up for the day. I finally get her to go back to sleep after a few hours, just before my alarm goes off at 5:45. And she's never been much of a napper. The only way I can get her to nap is to lie down with her. I know she would love to co-sleep all the time. But I just can't sleep with her in the bed. I need all of my pillows and my down comforter to get comfortable, and I worry she'll suffocate in all of that. A friend suggested I sidecar her crib to the bed. I'd never heard of this before, but after some research decided this might just work for us. Basically you attach the crib to the side of the bed with one side off of the crib. You obviously have to be careful to make sure to attach it very securely and that there is no gap between the two for the baby to fall between. But we figured that out.

We set this up this weekend and it seems to be helping! Her sleep could still use some improvement, but at least when she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to party I've been able to convince her to go back to sleep a little more quickly.

Here she is modeling the sidecar for the camera.

Sitting?

Silje and I have been practicing sitting (her more than me, I've had sitting mastered for awhile) to build up those core muscles.

Here she was yesterday. She thought it was pretty darn hilarious.



I thought she was still a long way from sitting on her own yesterday. But she felt a little more stable today, so I let go. Voila! Okay, so she can only sit unassisted for a few seconds, and only if you place her just right so she's balancing her weight just so. But still, it's a start!



I couldn't pick which photo to use, so I'm putting in all three. I thought she looked so cute and so pleased with herself.





Handy that I just happened to have the iphone with me. Too bad she was pretty much done sitting by the time I went and got the good camera. I did get one more picture with the good camera though - but the setting wasn't quite right. Ah well. Thank goodness for the iphone!

Fall Break - Wisconsin

Then we headed up to my parents' house. We aren't usually up that way this time of year. It was fun to be there in the fall for the first time in a long time.

We were there for a few days before Wayne and Nate came.

Stian played "car show" with Grandma - one of their favorite activities.





This is Claire the cat - Stian's most favorite stuffed animal and "best friend" - he adores her.









Silje plays "Sooooo big!" with Grandpa.





Wayne and Nate arrive!



Apple picking! Grandma and Grandpa left a bunch of the lower down apples on the trees so the boys could pick apples. They were very yummy! Stian loves apples. He says they are his favorite food. Although he has decided he prefers them peeled (or "skinned" as he calls it), which is a bit of a pain. He was helping me make Norwegian apple cake recently and ate the left over apples that I had peeled to put in the cake, and he decided they were better than with the skin on.



These masks featured prominently this weekend. They have long been a favorite of Nate's but now Stian thinks they are pretty cool too.











Stian wanted to go fishing so Grandpa helped him. He still didn't catch a fish though. Perhaps ice fishing this winter? (prepare yourself Grandpa!)





We tried to get a family picture with my family too. We wandered around trying to find just the right spot.













This is probably the best group shot. It's okay, but both boys are making goofy faces. Of course, they are usually making goofy faces, so I guess it looks like them. Perhaps we'll try again at Thanksgiving.



We did get a nice picture of Wayne and Nate though.



And a nice picture of the four of us.