Movin' on Up

I'm seriously considering trying to get on the property ladder. I'm fed up of paying rent and now seems to be as bad a time as any to bite the bullet and become a home(loan)owner. I have checked my sums fairly thoroughly and taken a fair amount of independent financial advice. All things being equal and assuming that there will not be a massive crash in the next 5 years then I should be OK.

This is the building in question. At the moment no one is living in them and they are freshly built. I didnt take pictures but there is a similar block at right angles to this one on the left of the picture that is already full so this is the final part of the development.

At the open day we attended we were allowed to look around two of the apartments that were on the upper ground floor. One was fully furnished and one empty. Does anyone know if having the central heating pipes exposed on the wall is a modern style of building? New to me.

The living room in this one was nice and large with a little balcony big enough for a small chair and table.

Leading through to a mini kitchen with enough space for everything you need.

The bedrooms were the only rooms in the furnished apartment I could get a clear shot of. There were people faffing around everywhere in the living room and kitchen, talking to the housing association helpers.

I took along my friend Matt for moral support and a second opinion.

This is a bonus picture from a recent night out in Bournemouth for Matt's birthday, with Matt's housemate Ben in the centre.

Proper Oslo Blog

Hello! I'm very lazy in getting these pictures together but better late than never. Needless to say we had a wonderful time in Oslo visiting Matt, Silje and little Maud. Its only 6 adult months since we last met but in baby time thats AGES! So much as has changed in Maud's world since then. The concept of language has obviously been milling around in Maud's head for a while and bits of Norwegian and English are now in regular use. We were treated to the very first English "bye bye" during our visit, which is normally delivered in Norwegian.

"Come on DAD get these pesky socks on so I can go and PLAY!"

"I'm so good at this box thing I can do it without even looking!"

"Right Grandma, let get every single toy out on this nice clean floor"

Books are a firm favourite with Maud

And playing with Grandma

Lots of lovely Norwegian meals were had too! Thank you Silje! Mmm lefsa!
(Sorry Maud, the jug was in the way for you in this one, but in every other attempt
at this shot all the adults were doing something silly!)

Park life

Maud looking very pleased with herself that she can now run up the steps to the slide on her own... but only with an adoring audience to appreciate it obviously.

"Mmmm sand!"

Maud loves sand, grit, gravel, stones and generally all building style materials of all types. Perhaps this will lead her towards a career in civil engineering or architecture? If it gets to that stage hopefully she will be able to go to work without licking the bricks. For the moment however it seems like Maud wants to eat every stone in the playground!

"Hey look round here there's loads of lovely stones to eat... oh I mean just touch"

"What? There's an urgent delivery to be made? OK OK I'll do it!"

Workforce

Maud operates a sideline Special delivery service out of the playground in her spare time. Just an exclusive baby courier service at the end of the phone. No parcels today but Maud donated her time and spacious van to take Silje to the shops to buy some lovely food for Maud to eat.

Oh no got pulled over by the cops.

"Yes officer?"

Oh phew only Dad with some light refreshments for the busy worker.

Fun in the sun

After a hard days driving there are loads of other cool things to do in the playground which amuse Maud no end.

The Springy Cow

The Big Slide with Daddy

"Come on someone get over here and PUSH!"

"Weeeeeeeeeee"

I think Maud could have happily stayed in this giant swing ALL day. So much fun!

Pushers on the street...

Sticking to the usual Maud routine, our afternoons were filled with walks and baby entertainment.

"Right you lot... where are you taking me now?"

Well... that day we went on the trip around the corner to Ensjø where Matt, Silje and Maud will be living from next year. After our tour around the building site we walked round the corner to...

Something very exciting for Maud to see for the first time.... Well OK she doesnt look that excited... but we enjoyed ourselves anyway...

...GOATS! These were part of a small farm with horses, donkeys and other similar farm attractions! The goats were very happy to see us and espectially when we fed them the dandelions that they couldn't reach through the fence.

This is a Maud's eye view! Not sure how scary that really was for her, but from here it looks kind of frightening! I didn't realise that goats had those spooky rectangular pupils. This apparently helps them see better in the dark and is the same for quite a few other animals like horses, sheep and octopus.

Wagons roll. Maud gets excited about being the pusher rather than the pushee.