Maria

Maria is our own personal fashion designer. She has hand made this cute christmas outfit, and also a sweet dress. Maria, when you are famous, don't forget your roots, these amazing baby clothes that you began with...

Vad Snygg ni två är!
My, how pretty you two are!

Jenny loves to snuggle with Lydia, but NOT when she needs a change of diaper.

I hope you get over your cold soon, Jenny, so you can snuggle more with Lydia while we are here!

What a nice picture!

Is this YOUR baby??

Nope, that's our little girl, all bundled up for her first time in the snow....

Everyone took turns snuggling and posing with her, but i like this one best.

She liked the cold until her nose started running...and then it was tooo cold.

Everyone in the Noren family was here except Linda, so we decided that she could be the snowman....

Farfar Danne was so proud to hold Lydia for the picture!

One new addition to the family: Our American/Egyptian future brother in law Ramy!

Lydia meets her swedish side...

Lydia was a bit overwhelmed to meet her Swedish relatives....too many aunties snuggling with her all at once!

Day 1: Cried and cried...too many people all at once!

Day 2: Decided to become friends with a select few, including Grandma Monica and maybe Jonas. Was a bit overwhelmed by a strange grandpa Danne trying to hold her for her dedication at church...

Day 3: Turned on her charm and befriended Jenny, Maria, Sara, and Jonas.

Day 4: Now she's part of the family. I feed her and then say, "anyone want a baby?" and usually get the instant response: BEBIS! and an aunt comes to enjoy this ball of cuteness.

starbucks

Travelling means airports....and airports means Starbucks! I try to lay low on the caffiene, but this was just irresistable. So really, that is just an empty cup that i REALLY enjoyed drinking! Lydia just needed to get a whiff of that goodness. Thank you Copenhagen airport for giving us a kick of coffee goodness and a place to sit while we waited for our train to go home to Sweden!

the finest couscous in town

My fine folks gave Daniel a birthday gift of a nice dinner out on the town! We found one of the fanciest restaurants, wrapped Lydia up in her stroller, and off we went... We didn't expect that we would have the whole restaurant to ourselves! No other guests came, but I guess it was better that way, because then nobody was bothered by Lydia's screeching! We were also a bit humored by the menu options...couscous, couscous, and more couscous! But I guess that's the point of the fancy restaurant; top rate local fare. Salmon couscous with almonds and cashews, anchovy soup...it was good! Thanks mom and dad for a sweet night out!

Lydia is already quite a "daddy's little girl."

Often when she is screeching and crying, he is the one and only who can quiet her down.

I always wondered if fatherhood would suit Daniel, and the answer is absolutely YES!

Look how sweetly she snuggles with him.

And that's the way it should be...little girls who love their dads.

cooking brains

Brains for lunch, stomach for dinner. Yes, I have just learned how to cook these sweet delicacies. As long as I distracted myself, i have to admit they tasted pretty good....I was just when my mind started chewing on the fact that i was chewing on something else's mind....bleah! This delicious dish of couscous has a nice stomach, front and center. It was filled up with spinach, spices, garbanzo beans, red pepper, and then stitched up and cooked good and long so the tough stomach skin can get tender. You can also see me dicing and slicing the brain (it's pretty small altogether), which we fried up...it tasted a bit like scrambled eggs. Hmmm. Next year we will NOT make any jokes about eating the sheeps brain if we go to their "sheep slaughtering" holiday. (That's why my friend showed up with a basket of brains and stomach for us; she wanted to honor us with the best parts!)

Giraffe, Lion, Turtle, Alligator, Snake

Aunt Frida did some fancy fingerworks, and made these sweet animals for a mobile for Lydia. She loves it! Too bad her hand coordination isn't good enough to get a proper grip on them, but when she does occasionally bat them with her hand she just squeals with delight. But when she starts to get tired, i think she gets a little scared of her little fuzzy friends, and we have to hide them from her so she doze off... Thanks Frida for the sweet friends for Lydia!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE artichokes. They are one of those odd vegetables, and I acquired a taste for them since i was a wee kid. This part of the Arab world must be the perfect climate for growing artichokes, because we bought all these beautys for about a dollar! Come visit us, we'll have artichokes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...as long as artichoke season lasts. Maybe the taste of artichokes will naturally seep through to Lydia as i nurse and she will also grow to love em! Mmmm, artichoke flavored milk.

40 days, free at last

Here (in the Arab world) they have a local custom: A woman and her baby shouldn't go out of the house until 40 days have passed since she gave birth. I guess you can just call me "Hannah the rebellious rule breaker"...because, man, we went out too many times to count before Lydia turned 40 days old! As you can see, she squeezed into this sling like a pea in a peapod. Now those peapod days are over, and she won't fit into this sling unless she sits up with her head and shoulders peeking out. How many old ladies chewed me out for going out with a too small baby? Maybe 10. Was it worth it to go out? Yes sirrrreee!

long sleeping

I'm not quite sure how she manages it, but Lydia is sleeping strong and long through the night....for a kid who only has two months of life experience, I'm pretty impressed. Here's how the last week went: monday 9.5 hrs, tuesday 8 hrs, wednesday 9.75 hrs, thrusday 9 hrs, friday 8.5 hrs, saturday 10.5 hrs!!, sunday 9 hrs. Keep up the good work, kiddo. (ps, this is the work of Babywise, because I know I couldn't do anything this wise myself.

(Babywise is one of many ways to attempt to put a baby into a rythm that is both healthy and fits to the rest of the family.  I enjoyed using the principles loosely with our 5 kids.)

 

 We think Lydia likes this song....

What kind of songs do you sing for your kids, and what kind of foundation does that lay out for them? 

"I frid vill jag lägga mig ner
Och i frid får jag somna in
Ty du Herre låter mig bo
I trygget och i ro"

In peace will I lay down and sleep, for you Oh Lord, let me live in your peace....