We made it!

This is how ethan looked most of the trip, except when he was sleeping!

Jet lag got the better of him........

What a wonderful journey this has been. We have traveled so far and it has not been as hard as i thought. Ethan did great on the trip over and has adjusted well to the new time zone. It took him about a week but he was never up all night or anything so i am absolutely pleased! Our trip over here was full of challenges and yet we were happy and ethan was awesome. So, it is of no matter since we had joy, felt good and were able to rest too. Now we are living the good life of eating, drinking in good company and taking it easy most of the time. Our days so far are filled with hiking, napping, eating, eating, eating and eating as well as a lot of talking a little swimming and just watching the babies play together! I feel like i am growing into a hot air balloon by all the meals we are having. So much for loosing weight on this trip. This week is Jon David and I´s 8th year anniversary and we are not together. He and his dad, terje, and brother-in-law, Martin are working on Terje and Berit's bedroom. Me and Hannah-gudvieg, Jon David's sister , and Berit, his mom, went to Bo, Norway for the week. This is a very beautiful place hat reminds me of Colorado a bit. It has all the lush green, great mountains and a little college town (as college town as your gonna get in Norway, i suppose). They have a lot of concerts in the summer and none while i am staying here, of course.

Today is the 4th of July and i am happy to say we will be celebrating it! They are so great here. Congratulating me on our country's special day and wanting to celebrate the way we would, with out the fireworks, of course. So, what to do?

We will go on an excellent hike in the mountains! I can't wait! Then we will have a barbecue and smores. Smores is something they have only ever had one other time i was here about 8 years ago. They are very excited and so am i! Not the healthiest thing to introduce but, fun.

I can't wait to show you pic of some of the traditions here. I do love this country and family more and more every time i am here! What a special place.

sentimental hoo ha

I have been going through so many different emotions as we near Ethan's one year birthday. I am happy, I am sad, I am regretful, disappointed, jealous of others, excited, festive, depressed, getting baby fever and truly exhausted!
I look at him and still have the same feelings I did when we brought him home. Could he really belong to us? How could he be so wonderful, so cute, and how could all these wonderful things about him pass me by so quickly?
I just feel like I let the special things in each month pass me by without really getting to notice them, enjoy them and soak them up before a new thing would happen. I really don't want to forget any of it, AT ALL! He is such a treasure and he brings me so much joy. Sometimes I just wish the demands of life would stop. Other people would seize to exist and he could have all my attention. Truth is, that even when he does, I am distracted in some way.
so, I will soak him up now and remember all his sweetness, his cuteness and the joy he brings me!

Fun things he does
Ethan has always had this really unusual laugh that no one else has heard before. It sorta sounds like some one making a long AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa sound and tapping their voice box at the same time. He will make this laugh while playing, in his car seat, on the changing table, while eating or whenever. He does it to show his pleasure in something. He has a totally different and very adorable laugh for when he is completely lost in it and giggling histarically.
I Remember how sweet it was when he would wake up early in the mornings and i would nurse him in bed and I could feel his body begin to give into sleep again and be heavy in my arms.
He also use to lay on the changing table (before he learned to crawl) and just laugh and play. He loved his changing table! That was when he came alive the most!
When he was first learning "peek a boo" he would crawl right up to me and bow his head quietly for a moment and then lift his head quickly with laughter and bright eyes. That was his way of saying, "peek a boo". SOOOOOO, cute.
One of my favorite memories was when all three of us were laying in bed on a Saturday morning. It was way too early for us all to be up and Jon David and I were trying to rest while keeping one eye open to watch Ethan. Suddenly i heard what sounded like clapping. I focused in and sure enough Ethan was just sitting there, clapping away. It was his first clap and it was as if to say, "come on you guys, let's play!" He loves to clap.
He claps for many things through out the day. He even claps while he is getting to sleep and when he is asleep. He claps a lot, come to think of it!
I miss how he would crinkle up his nose and pucker his lips a little opened and breath out his nose really hard.Just to be cute.
I love the today's too though!
How he loves to drum and shake,shake, shake. He bops his body left to right and waves his arms in a dance. He is so beautiful!
Every time we say, "praise Jesus" he raises his hands high above his head and waits for us to follow. It is a little game that started awhile back. He had the whole room imitating him and he just LOVED IT!
I love how I can hear him when he is excited making his way down the hall and into the kitchen, with such a thunderous crawl. I often have to look just to make sure it isn't someone else with him...he's just one baby and he sounds like an army!
















I love how he says mama.
I love days like today, where he just seems so happy to be alive, playing by himself and talking with that sweet "AAAaaaaaaaaaa", voice. He spent his whole lunch time with me going thru different hand motions he has learned ( i didn't even know he knew how to do, by the way). He waved with both hands, at himself and then just one at me. Hee, hee! For the first time ever, he blew kisses at me and he instigated it! He clapped, waved, blew kisses and praised Jesus. It was the best lunch i can remember!
Oh, Ti's sweet to have a little one that the Lord has entrusted you with, that belongs to you, looks like you (well, one of you , anyways) and is all his own person. I love him! I treasure him. I am happy for this day! I am grateful for such an honored gift from the father. I just want to wrap him all up in my love even though he won't let me and keep him and all his cuteness with me, always.
Well, this helped! Really, it did. Just to get it out there, ya know? I feel so much better and ready to recieve the day that we celebrate his birth! His Birth! Wow, I really have come full circle. I can now say that the day of his birth holds more than just pain! I will have to share some day soon, maybe this week, how God has changed the pain and ashes to beauty!

I think i will sing off now. This has to be the longest blog yet.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Ethan loves drumming, dancing, eating and playing with auntie Kristina!

I love this age!

Ethan was about to be 10 months in this photo. Now he is about to be 11 months. Months mean EVERYTHING in baby age!
He had a bad butt rash so, i let him go comando on the kitchen floor for about 30 min or so. I also, cleaned up his pee 4 x i think. I thought if he has gone once he will have gotten it all out and be done! NOPE. I guess boys are like dogs. He proceeded to make is "mark" in every new area he crawled to.
I had to laugh!


Yeah, Aunt Dria finally came to visit. Ethan and her really are kindred spirits!We had so much fun and always do!


I am taken by this face! He gets me every time. So, sweet, so adroable and so much fun!

Traveling with Stars

This is Ethan's fun, happy, clever and highly entertained with himself, laugh! He is about to be nine months in this video. He is 10 months on the 11 of this month!

New Hair!

BeforeJon David's mom, Berit, made this outfit! Isn't he sooooo cute!

And after....

I love this new do! It is so fun and easy! Now the european in me is totally READY for this summer! Yippy!

Our Family from Norway's visit at easter!

Jon David and I have too many words to describe our feelings for this visit and too little space/time. We are full! Jeg er mett!


We enjoyed every single moment of our families visit. I must say that to have 6 people in my home for 11 days could not have been easy under normal circumstances. In this case, it was like being on vacation! If you ever get a chance to host a Norwegian family...do it! It will change your life forever. They are easy going, so polite and very gracious! Not to mention a lot of fun to be with.
We took them everywhere in Nashville that we could fit in 11 days. I still can't believe how much we packed in. They went on and on about how this was the best trip ever and that they could not have even dreamt of so much fun. I loved hearing that, i must say.





We drummed the day away on Easter Day. Even Ethan had it in him to hit on a beat or two.
These are two of his biggest fans! I loved seeing Ethan bond so well with these two wonderful, great uncle's of Norway! He really took to them immediately and they just jumped at the opportunity to hold him, change him, feed him and read to him at night! It was so sweet.
You know i had to take them to the Pancake Pantry! Since eggs, sausage and pancakes is a TOTALLY American breakfast and not something they have, (unless i am around) they stepped up to the challenge very willingly!

We also took them to the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Ryman, The Grand Ole Opry, Opry Mills, and Opryland Hotel. And that's not all! On Easter we went out to my parents house and had an amazing time! Lot's of good food, a wonderful Easter egg hunt, drum circle and some hula hooping too! Oh, and of course we enjoyed a very nice and relaxing hot tub dip to end the night!


I captured the very essence of who Terje Adnevik is, in this picture. Have you ever seen a more loving, and tender hearted man in your life? Jon David was the best thing that ever happened to me! His family came with him and in this case, it is still a mirage of blessings every single day!



The Hansom Four! Here we are at Radnor Lake!


Mom made us hide in the closet while Jon David and my dad hid the Easter eggs. We had a blast hunting!









This is all of us at the Opryland Hotel.




Have you ever seen a happier baby with his great uncle? This is literally the morning Ethan met Helge and he just fell in love with him!

I am sure you can see that we had a fun filled time! Ethan has never been more adored and he deserves every bit of it! Hee, Hee! ( i am biased, you know).
For now we say good bye. Until this summer when we visit them again. We have realized a lot of things. Life is simple! It can always be great and Love truly does conquer all! That is what they taught us. They really live simply and it made me want to stop! Stop everything! Just about everything in my life is a complication that i entertain. Why not? Why not just let it all go and accept what is for what is and just love the ones your with. It has been a hard lesson and long overdo. We truly do just need to live in the moment. We have right now and tomorrow has all our hopes, but do we let them control our happiness. Terje taught me that when we have everything go wrong in a day, that it is really exciting just to see what the day will bring instead. It isn't disappointing, to him, it is just an adventure! Thanks Terje. Thanks to all the others too! We adore you and can't wait to see you soon!