Mummy's home!

My mum gets her grandkids, Espen gets his Granny to play with, and Gwen gets another warm body to nap on. Win-win-win!

Last Wednesday morning my mum asked me to help her look for plane tickets to come out and see us. Last Wednesday afternoon she emailed me her flight itinerary from Norway, and this Wednesday we picked her up at the airport. Not a super-planned visit, but a very welcome one! 

Espen is deliriously happy to have his Granny here to play with, and could only be convinced to go to bed when jet lag got the better of my mum and she went to sleep before he did. And Gwen (the real reason why Granny is here, let's be honest!) has already embraced her Granny's arms as a safe and comfy spot to sleep. 

And I get to have my Mummy for the next three weeks! I'm bigger than her now, but part of me still wants to curl up in her lap so she can make the world better. And I'm looking forward to some girl time on my own with my mum: a little shopping, movies, lunch and a few projects to work on together. It's going to be wonderful! 

Great TV

Last week tried to kill me. In addition to the awful cough I told you about, I just had ailment upon ailment pile themselves on until I submitted. It was not a good scene, but I'm feeling hopeful that this week is going to be better. I have managed to actually shower and do the dishes this morning, so things are looking up!

I didn't do a lot of celebrating the everyday last week, but I did wholeheartedly embrace some great television as I balled up on the couch. What's on your "can't miss" list? Here are the shows we set our DVR for:

Image borrowed here.

Like everyone else right now, we are all sorts of into Downton Abbey. Am I the only one who wanted to yell at Matthew Crawley for the past couple of episodes? And I was absolutely heartbroken for Lady Edith. Surely she wouldn't be the first young English lady to be married off to some crusty old lord? The only difference is that she wanted to marry him, so why couldn't she? I hope the writers have something really good tucked up their sleeves for her, and soon!

Image borrowed here.

We always watch NBC's Thursday night lineup too. I've had a girl crush on Tina Fey for years (solidified by her Sarah Palin impersonations!), and we both love 30 Rock. I think every woman over 25 can see a little (or a lot!) of themselves in Liz Lemon. I'm a bit sad that it's their last season, but like where they're headed. Now that Liz is married, let's hope they can have a baby! My guess is that they will adopt an older child, and then discover that the fertility treatments have worked and they end up with a baby too.

Image borrowed here. 

Parks and Recreation has surprised me by becoming the highlight of my Thursday nights. A lot of the humor is kind of low-key and understated, which I love. If you're not paying attention, you might miss the best part! The whole cast is great, and you only have to say "Ron Swanson" to make me laugh. Is it embarrassing that Leslie Knope is kind of a role model for me? While definitely a little (a lot) on the turbo side, she's so positive and just knows how to make things happen. I love that about her, and wish I was better at bringing out my own inner Leslie.

image borrowed here

While I don't find it as funny as the earlier seasons, we're still watching The Office, and I like a lot of what they're doing with their last season. I miss Kelly, though! I hope they give everyone a great ending and leave it at that. No spin-offs, please!

Image borrowed here

And right now we're waiting patiently for the return of Community. I'm sure it will go down in history as yet-another-great-show-cancelled-before-its-time-by-NBC, but until then I will declare it sort of genius and laugh until I hurt. I love Troy and Abed!

Image borrowed here.

Another Thursday night fave is Big Bang Theory. Laughing at nerds is a longtime tradition in our society, and with nerds as sweet and funny as these guys, we're finally laughing for (mostly) the right reasons. Nick gets the science jokes, I get the "my boyfriend is a genius" jokes :)

Image borrowed here.

And we are still waiting for the return of Doctor Who. It was such a nerdy show when I was growing up, but now I keep finding out that all sorts of people love it. Even cool people, you guys! This is another show that both Nick and I love, which makes it extra fun when we can geek out over it in unison. All I have to say is that his new companion is going to have to work hard to make me love her like I loved the Ponds.

So those are our must-see shows. As parents of young children, we spend a lot of nights at home, and therefore watch a lot of movies and television, which means that you could add our Netflix queue as well as a selection of other shows we watch from both England and Norway to this list. It's not particularly glamorous, but great TV is one of the good parts of everyday life for us!

Now give me your list!

January - hear me out.

When I'm ready to embrace and celebrate my laundry, I'll let you know.

So. I had this lovely post planned about how I love January for all of its new-ness and freshness and post-holiday clean-ness. There were going to be similes about white carpets of fresh fallen snow and taking whatever first steps you want in them. And I was going to tell you, in all earnestness, that I love January like I love Mondays (which I do!) for that sense of starting over and being able to fill your new week or year with whatever you want to. 

But then I caught the kids cold with accompanying cough of death, and have so far spent January effectively trying to expel my lungs from my body while not really sleeping much either because either I feel like I'm slowly drowning, or one of two children wants something in the night. Our house has dramatically exploded/imploded all over itself with things from our trip that still need to be put away, and new Christmas presents that need to find homes. And I just can't seem to keep up with dishes, laundry, those horrible salt stains that people's wet shoes leave on the floor, anything. 

To put a whiny story short: so far, I haven't really loved January all that much.

January 2013 has been all about coughs and colds and various ailments and trying to get caught up on chores, and boxing up Christmas and being stuck in the house and just the general everyday blahness of life. After months of the holiday season, January just seems so utterly celebration-less and boring. 

So I'm thinking, why not celebrate that? Why not make January a month to completely and wholeheartedly embrace the everyday? Let's love the return of good TV (Downton Abbey, yes?), 20 minute dinners, comfy pants and flopping onto the couch at the end of the day. And while we're there, let's find some ways to make the everyday a little bit more special. I'm thinking candlelit dinners for the whole family on a Tuesday, adding fresh flowers to the grocery shopping list and generally anything that makes the ordinary a little extraordinary (in other words, not phrases like that, but you know what I mean). What makes January so special is precisely it's complete and utter void of any kid of specialness. There's nothing to celebrate except the total lack of celebration. 

I'm liking this idea, and will be coming back to it throughout the month. In the meantime I'd love to hear how you feel about January. Are you all into its clean-slatey-goodness, or do you feel like it's a complete letdown after the holidays? Or do you somehow manage to not really care one way or another? Spill. 

Today

Not a huge smile, but doesn't she look so content?

Today is a good day because:

• My daughter is seven weeks old. And smiling!
• It is 13 years (and one day) exactly since I first came to the US from Norway. This fact keeps blowing my mind over and over again. How have I been here for 13 years already?!?
• Today also marks 8 years since the day Nick and I first kissed. I still get all jelly-legged just thinking about. And it makes me want Indian food, since that's what we had for dinner on our date that day. But I think I'll be OK without watching Hercules in a bachelor pad basement.