Mother-in-law arrived!

[The Natural]

Today Inna's mother came to us. She travelled by train from Crimea to Moscow where she spent a few days with her other daughter, before taking Aeroflot to Oslo today. She isn't used to travelling, have never been to the west and speak only Russian, so she was quite nervous. Inna translated and told me when she came to Oslo airport she spoke in Russian to different people working there and was somehow pointed in the right direction and made it fine on the next plane which fortunately went direct to an airport close to where we live.
 
Needless to say she was thrilled to finally meet Erik, her second grandson. I hope she will have wonderful weeks here with us and it's nice for Inna to have her mother here for a visit in her new home. Rural Norway is very different to Kerch and it will be interesting to find out what she thinks. She did say that it's very unusual with so small buildings and very few people. There are no city blocks here. She did comment while we had dinner that the drinking water is very good.
 
Now they are watching Ice Age 4 in the home cinema as Inna wanted to show her the 3D effect 
 
Here's a few photos of Erik and one with her grandmother.

[Slingerland]

That is a VERY cute baby!  Congrats!

[The Natural]

That is a VERY cute baby!  Congrats!

Thanks Slingerland. He's half and half Russian-Scandinavian.

[Boethius]

Cute photo of his reaction to MIL. Erik is not quite certain what to make of her.

[The Natural]

Cute photo of his reaction to MIL. Erik is not quite certain what to make of her.

But in his defense, he did just wake up after a pretty long drive which always makes him sleepy and nice. Loves to drive in a car like all children. But once he woke up properly, got some milk, he smiled to grandma like he does to all good folks.
 
By the way, in Norway we call the mother of the mother (grandmother) "Mormor" (Mothermother). MIL said she like that word. Easy to pronounce    My own mother is "Farmor" (Fathermother).

[Boethius]

Good that he smiled at Mormor.  I'm certain she will love her time with him.  


By the way, you look much happier and relaxed in these photos than in any I've seen of you.  Family life obviously agrees with you.

[Faux Pas]

Great pics Roy!

Good looking kid! Why the heavy duty wheels on the baby carriage?

[The Natural]

Great pics Roy!

Good looking kid! Why the heavy duty wheels on the baby carriage?

Thank you my good friend.
You think them wheels are big? I don't know, guess they're all pretty much the same. We bought this one used and I never gave the wheels any thought. Should serve well though, when Inna wants to take Erik on the dirt road towards the mountains.

[Faux Pas]

Thank you my good friend.
You think them wheels are big? I don't know, guess they're all pretty much the same. We bought this one used and I never gave the wheels any thought. Should serve well though, when Inna wants to take Erik on the dirt road towards the mountains.

Yeah they look big as opposed to what I am use to seeing. Kind of expect there to be a motor on that thing with them wheels. Which might not be a bad idea 

[GoodOlBoy]

Congrats Natural!
Hey, where is the Russian flag? 
 
GOB

[The Natural]

 
GOB

Yeah they look big as opposed to what I am use to seeing. Kind of expect there to be a motor on that thing with them wheels. Which might not be a bad idea 

Damn, you're one observant fella. Now I will watch for the size of the wheels of the other baby wagons 
 
 

Congrats Natural!
Hey, where is the Russian flag? 

The Russian flag is right behind me, standing on a rack where I keep my weight training plates, hehe. It's a no-no to show any other flag than the Norwegian one on our Independence day on May 17. Some one-worlders try every year, but so far people are not too keen on it. I'm curious, are there any other flags than the US displayed in public on July 4th?

[CanadaMan]

Here's a few photos of Erik and one with her grandmother.

Congrats Roy!

For a moment there I thought Erik had either undergone a sex-change or I had mistaken 'her' for a 'him' earlier.
But in later references you are back to 'he', so I assume he's a boy. 

[facetrock]

Congrats. Bet grandma is thrilled!!

[Belvis]

This guy shakes his fist at someone. Viking power? 

[The Natural]

Congrats Roy!

For a moment there I thought Erik had either undergone a sex-change or I had mistaken 'her' for a 'him' earlier.
But in later references you are back to 'he', so I assume he's a boy. 

Thank you CanadaMan. Yeah, a slight error in writing there 
 

Congrats. Bet grandma is thrilled!!

Oh, she is. He was smiling and happy for a long time just now and then started to cry very much. Too tired, so grandma insisted on lying down with him in his bedroom to calm him down. I'm afraid he will be terribly spoiled. But what can you do, he melts hearts in a big way 

This guy shakes his fist at someone. Viking power? 

Yeah, he started doing that pretty early on. Nobody taught him, so maybe he will be a boxer.
 
 
 
 

[Steamer]

Yeah they look big as opposed to what I am use to seeing. Kind of expect there to be a motor on that thing with them wheels. Which might not be a bad idea 

I've noticed that European baby carriages are much more sturdy, comfortable and have a suspension on them like a Buick. In the US the idea is for it to be easily collapsible so it will fit in the trunk. If you have a grandkid on the way Euro carriages make a very cool gift.

[Chicagoguy]

Have loved following your story and how everything has gone so well for the two of you.    Keep up the good work and congratulations.

[Voyager36]

Needless to say she was thrilled to finally meet Erik, her second grandson. I hope she will have wonderful weeks here with us and it's nice for Inna to have her mother here for a visit in her new home. [/quote
Was it difficult to get the visa for her?

[The Natural]

Have loved following your story and how everything has gone so well for the two of you.    Keep up the good work and congratulations.

Thank you very much Chicagoguy.
 

Was it difficult to get the visa for her?

No, that was no problem. Only thing it was quite a few documents, mainly of an econonic nature, where I guarantee for her stay financially. It didn't take many days until she got the visa from when the documents were submitted.
 
 
 

[Muzh]

Roy, your son is at that stage where you can't help nibbling on him. All my three children were 'tortured' this way by me.    I loved they way they shrieked.

He's beautiful.

 
Definition of child

A child is a being that God loaned to us to do a crash course in how to love someone more than ourselves, and how to change our worst faults in order to give them the best examples and, for us, to learn how to have courage. Yes! That's it! Being a parent is the greatest act of courage that anybody can have, because you are exposed to all kinds of pain, mainly from the uncertainty of acting properly and the fear of losing something so dear. Losing? How? It is not ours? It was just a loan… The most precious and wonderful loan since they are ours only until they can fend for themselves, then they belong to life, destiny and their own families. May God always bless our children because he has blessed us with them.

[Hammer2722]

Great picks Roy, I love Eriks smile!!! Just beautiful!!!! 

[The Natural]

Roy, your son is at that stage where you can't help nibbling on him. All my three children were 'tortured' this way by me.    I loved they way they shrieked.

He's beautiful.

 
Definition of child

A child is a being that God loaned to us to do a crash course in how to love someone more than ourselves, and how to change our worst faults in order to give them the best examples and, for us, to learn how to have courage. Yes! That's it! Being a parent is the greatest act of courage that anybody can have, because you are exposed to all kinds of pain, mainly from the uncertainty of acting properly and the fear of losing something so dear. Losing? How? It is not ours? It was just a loan… The most precious and wonderful loan since they are ours only until they can fend for themselves, then they belong to life, destiny and their own families. May God always bless our children because he has blessed us with them.

Very well put Muzh and I wholeheartedly agree.
 

Great picks Roy, I love Eriks smile!!! Just beautiful!!!! 

Thank you very much Hammer2722. That warms a papa's heart 

[The Natural]

A little update on our family situation.
 
MIL came to us on May 19 and went back home on July 11. She was a great help and nice to have here. She had a little tough time at first. The way my wife explained it, it was a kind of a culture shock. It took her a couple of weeks to get used to the vastly different environment here, but it seemed she settled down eventually and took Erik on daily strolls along the main road.
 
As mentioned, she was a great help taking care of Erik. Our little Prince, wonderful and smiling as he is, is also pretty demanding... perhaps even a bit spoiled. He demands, and gets, attention when he wants it. One whimper and someone is there to entertain him. We just can't say no, I guess.
 
MIL went to bed early and got up early, so my wife fed Erik and went downstairs with him so that her mother could take care of him while she had another couple of hours of much needed sleep. Grandmother loves Erik very much and she spent a lot of her time her tending to him. My wife just today said that it's not only that she loves him very much that she enjoyed about her visit here, but also that she felt she was needed... valued. I told her that is a very natural and good thing for a grandparent to feel.
 
[font=]We have one hurdle to cross in the months ahead, however. In Norway, it is a right as well as pretty much a demand, to get a job anyway, for immigrants to attend language classes. This semester it starts on August 19 and the both of us really want that my wife follow it. Unfortunately the liberal possibilities for the father to get 14 weeks of paid leave to be with a small child does not apply to our situation as it’s determined on the mother having worked before. Not even if, as in our situation, if she goes to language classes, do we qualify. If we were a couple who came as refugees or asylum seekers however… no problem![/font]
 
[font=] [/font]
[font=]So we have made papers for her mother to come on September 1, but according to the tourist visa rules, she can only stay another 37 days. But once she is here, we will submit an application for another type of family visa, so that she can hopefully stay here until close to Christmas. Submitting this application only cost about 600 bucks! Fortunately my wife got a little work cleaning and can earn that and some more tax-free.[/font]
 
[font=] [/font]
[font=]Recent photos of Erik. Here he is standing on his own, supporting himself against the chair, at 4 months of age.[/font]

[ML]

Hey Reidar, what's the latest on baby and mother, and you too?

Baby seems to be taking away some of your valuable time to post here.

Just curious if you are raising the baby the 'natural' way?


= = = 

And speaking of missing persons . . . where is Daveman?

Don't tell me he is also 'expecting' or already a father!

Seems to explain a lot of 'absent' persons.

[The Natural]

Hey Reidar, what's the latest on baby and mother, and you too?

Baby seems to be taking away some of your valuable time to post here.

Just curious if you are raising the baby the 'natural' way?

Hi ML,
 
We are doing fine. Erik is growing and developing and charming everybody.
He's in the "target rate" on height, weight and head size. We try to raise him as natural as possible. He gets organic formula as mother does not have any more of the real stuff which is of course the best. Give him cod liver oil and have started to introduce solid foods. I really want him to get egg yolk, liver and other meats now. He's vaccine free and will remain so.
 
Yes, baby and home improvement and work around the house and my income producing job keeps me off the computer very much. I check in here from time to time just to see if there's anything interesting to read. Most times it's not 
 
MIL will come on September 1. She got a multientry visa expiring on May 19 next year but problem is, she can only stay for 36 days now in the autumn as it's for legal stays for up to 90 days in a 6-month period and she was here from May to July last. New 90 day period starts on November 19.
 
On Monday we will drive to where the language school for immigrants are. We hope we can get an extension for MIL so that she can take care of Erik while my wife learns Norwegian. We will see.
 
Thanks for asking about us ML and I wish you a great Sunday.