Life is almost back to normal...

After 3-4 weeks of a very irregular life due to an overdue pregnancy or a brand new baby, last weekend finally felt like life was returning to normal.
On Friday night we had Matt, Lina and Justin over for take-out dinner (thanks Matt&Lina!!), champaign & wine (thanks Justin!) and conversations/discussions going way into the night. I'm not sure what world problems were solved as I went to bed at midnight...

On Saturday we ran a few errands and spent some time in old-town Alexandria. It was our first family outing trying to do some shopping while bringing both of our girls, and eating a late lunch out together.

Sunday we went to Annapolis because we were supposed to meet up with Justin and go for a trip in his rented 24-foot sailboat. Unfortunately the sailboat was very slow and he didnt make it into Annapolis until 4pm so there was no time for us to go for a short sailtrip in the harbor. But it was nice spending the entire day outside and by the water.


Matt and Justin sharing some good drinks

Sleeping beauty (she loves wearing hats!)
Justin and Anika "sailing"

Pappa and Anika pretending to be out in the bay

Yay, first family picture of the four of us!

More August pics

Anika's pool water was too cold for Freya's liking...

Some mother-daughter love :)

"Hey - what are you looking at!"

Anika is taking good care of her little sister. I've not counted how many kisses Anika gives Freya each day, but it must be in the hundreds!



Anika posing in Great Falls Park, what a pretty girl!

More pics of princess Freya

Here you go... Freya is growing like a weed and continues to bless us with 6 hrs of non-stop sleep overnight + she continues to sleep for a few more hours after a diaper change and feeding :)

Other news; mormor Inger flew back to Norway on Sunday, thanks for all your help!

Look at our two girls

We had some fun comparing newborn pictures of our two beautiful girls. They are so similar but also so different... Anika was much chunkier when she was born although she was 8lb 2oz (Freya was 8lb 9oz), and she had more hair and much darker hair. Freya's skin is much more fair. Anika had heavy jaundice the first week, which made her skin look very different. However, i still think Freya's skin will be more fair than Anika. Perhaps her eyes will be blue also? Only time will tell - and we can't wait! It will be so much fun getting to know this new, beautiful little person!




Anika with pappa right after birth in 2004, then Freya with pappa a couple of weeks ago.






Anika with her jaundiced skin a few days after birth, below is Freya a couple of days after birth. Different eyes, nose and ears? Oh, and it looks like Freya has pappa's hairline ;)

Playdate with Colter and Charlie

Colter (4.5yrs) and Charlie (2.5yrs) with parents Jennifer and Ted came by this morning for a playdate with Anika. The kids had a lot of fun at the playground, and the date finished off with delicious bagels and smoothies that the Adams family had brought...yumyum! Thanks for coming by!

No sleeping pills - I swear!

Freya is one week old, and it turns out we have been blessed with a baby that sleeps on average 6hrs every night, no kidding! Freya usually falls asleep around 11pm, and easily sleeps until 6am if we don't wake her up during the night. I HAVE to wake her up otherwise my boobies go nuts with all the milk she is supposed to drink overnight. So I wake her up at 2 or 3am and feed her, and then we all sleep until 6 or 6.30am. I swear I am not taking any sleeping pills or giving Freya anything that would make her sleep this much. Let's hope it lasts for years and years to come!!!

Here are some more family pics for you to enjoy.

First pictures of Freya

Here she is only a few minutes old...



















Proud big sister holding Freya for the first time!
















Who does she look like?

She sure sleeps a lot, and my milk has started to come so she is filled up and satisfied already. Last night she slept from 1am until 7am, giving parents a gooood night's sleep (especially since Anika didn't wake up until 7am either).

Hurray - our new family member finally arrived

We gave birth to a beautiful girl yesterday August 4 at 9.54am and 11 days after due date... after an interesting labor story. Although we ended up at the hospital, we were still able to have a 100% natural birth experience :) We can tell you more about this when we see you.

Her name is Freya Ingeborg Lunde Hatley, and she weighted 8lb 9.6oz (3908g) and was 21.25inches (54cm) long at birth. Freya is the name of the norse goddess of love, beauty and fertility, while Ingeborg is a traditional Norwegian name. We have Inger (grandma) and Ingrid (great-grandma) and also Borghild (great-great-grandma) on my side of the family and all these names fit into Ingeborg.

Pics coming soon.