Stair case - Stage 1: complete

With an in-house baby time sure flies.

We finished with the first stage of the stair case renovation before Sophie arrived, but I haven’t had time to post about the finished result. Well here’s a little post and some pictures.

As I posted when I started thinking about the renovation of the stair case (read previous post here), the banister was gonna be painted white and the steps stained in a dark wood finish. After we started sanding and painting  I realized it was more work than we had time for. So we spilt up the renovation in two stages…Stage 1: the banister, and Stage 2: the steps.

I did a little post during the renovation (read it here) showing the progress.

Well here are a few pictures with Stage 1 completed…

Don’t know when we will start on Stage 2. But for now we will enjoy the fact that Stage 1 is completed and baby Sophie enriching our lives.

This months color is yellow…

Today is the 1^st stage of the Tour (full name Le tour de France). Also this year casa TweedyBird will follow the stages on TV – if baby Sophie allows us.

Yesterday was the prologue in Liège, a tempo stage which Fabian Cancellara won. Congrats Spartacus! Due to family visiting we didn’t get to see the stage on TV, but Twitter kept us updated.

Hopefully this years Tour will be less dangerous compared to earlier years… We all remember Hoogerlands close encouter with barbed wire fence last year! I was totally shocked when I saw it happen live…

As there are only one Norwegian cyclist in this years Tour, there will probably not be many moments like these…so here are a few clips posted to keep the Norwegian spirits up…from last years Tour.

Edvald Boasson Hagen wins stage 6

Thor Hushovd wins stage 13

Thor Hushovd wins stage 16

Edvald Boasson Hagen wins stage 17

Good luck to the Eddy the Boss!

- which team are you supporting?
- who do you think wins the TdF2012 yellow jersey?

My new “best friend”

Breast feeding a baby is a fulltime job (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise). A few days in between she does require feedings every other hour (babies need more nutrition to grow ) and with rocking the baby back to sleep, my arms have had the work out of a lifetime.

In Singapore my family have always had a baby hammock hanging for all the babies that have gone thru their house. When we were in Singapore last year we bought one to bring back to Norway. And now we finally have use for it!! The rocking motion soothes the baby right to sleep…

Rock-a-Bye Baby

And here is a little lullaby to go with the rocking…

Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all

Baby squawk

My sweet sister-in-law recommended a youtube video months ago, in preparation for the coming baby. I watched it then…and after Sophies arrival I watched it again.

Recommend everyone expecting a baby to watch it….helped me A LOT!

For those of you who don’t have time to watch the whole video, here is the essence:

1. “neh” – hungry (^w/sucking reflex)
2. “owh” – sleepy (oval shaped mouth)
3. “heh” – discomfort
4. “eair” – lower gas
5. “eh” – burp (air in the upper body)

Look, a gazebo!

Ask and you shall receive…

In a earlier post I “asked” for a wooden gazebo on the patio at the front of our house.

We came across an offer (@Jula) we couldn’t resist, a wooden gazebo at a fraction of the prices I had found so far.

With the early arrival of our little baby girl we didn’t have time to assemble until this weekend, with the help of a few family members the gazebo was finished. Thank you! (we wouldn’t have finished without your help)

Well here is the finished result…