Family and Fall

Just a real quick post about the latest here. Silja thankfully recovered quite quickly, and Bjarni was able to change his return flight and came back five days before planned (relief!). He was celebrated with balloons, strawberry cake, and two happy family members who had missed him, upon his return.

Having our little unit complete again and not dealing with all that dissertation craziness, things are returning to normal, which is GREAT! I am currently trying to catch up on my studies, preparing for next week's exam, while the other two are having a laid back time; I came back the other afternoon to a completely quiet apartment. I suppose jetlag goes well with a little one, who is still a little more tired than usual after being sick.

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On a different note fall in Vienna is looking its most beautiful at the moment. Despite the gloomy weather all the different colors are absolutely stunning.

That's it for now. Happy Weekend!

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Dr. Vilhjalmsson

After five years and a LOT of hard work, Bjarni defended his dissertation at USC yesterday. Because of our move to Austria he has not and will not participate in the university's commencement ceremony, which is a darn shame, but if he would it would look something like this.

(This is actually our good friend Rehana a couple of years back, which explains the sort of long hair on Bjarni...)

Two weeks of single parenting, preparing for an oral exam and doing thesis related fieldwork all at once is not giving me much time to reflect on this mile stone in his and our lives, but it has been a strange turning point in our lives for the past couple of years and I feel strange not to address that briefly now that this "chapter" comes to an end.

It was the PhD that made me leave my home country and embark on a life style abroad, which I have grown to appreciate immensely. Moving to the US additionally resulted in us getting married way sooner than I would otherwise have anticipated. Obviously a PhD is a document and a title, which is the fruit of Bjarni's hard labor -- and I'm truly amazed by the effort and commitment it has taken on his part -- and I suppose in addition to that, on a more personal level, it has been a process of lots of very big decisions between the two of us, and managing new lives in US and Austria having mainly each other to rely on. And so I'm a woman with a lot more experience and insight (and possibly a few grey hairs?) thanks to this fancy new title of my husband.

I remember when I in 2006 got my passport back from the American embassy in Denmark with a visa valid till 2011, and that seemed so far away in the future. Well, here we are now. Closing this chapter and starting a new one.

Cheers to my clever and admiringly ambitious husband!

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Impromptu Picnic

Bjarni's dissertation writing mode has gone into its final week of craziness. Oh, and are we all counting down for this to be done with now. For a while we have been on a tight and calculated schedule of you-take-the-kid-so-I-can-get-this-done and vice versa, leaving very limited time for all of us to do something together. So when Bjarni called yesterday, to see if we should pick up Silja together that was a sure yes from my side, and resulted in an impromptu picnic on our way home, on her little napping blanket, we were bringing home to wash. Half an hour together by the Donau Kanal with cakes and a happy kid and I think we are good to go for this last week. Bring it on!

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Oh Beejarney! (A Story about my Husband)

My favorite Icelander went to Boston last week. He had packed lightly as he was just going to stay a few days. On the plane, he had a beer (or several, I don't know), which he accidentally spilled on the only pair of pants he carried with him. The following day he had a job interview at Harvard, and figured stinking pants wouldn't make the best impression, so off he went to the conservative old university wearing shorts and a hoodie. And apparently that didn't matter, because he was offered a postdoc position.

We now have to choose between Southern Germany, Denmark and Boston. It was supposed to be an easy decision as we had already secretly made up our minds, but that was before Harvard entered the scene.

Oh Bjarni, you make my life (too) interesting!

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Schönbrunn Again

We have had an amazingly relaxed Easter with lots of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather, eating lamb Sólvallagata-style and putting together those little toys of Kinder Überraschung, which made for the Easter eggs this year. As we have started to discuss and semi-plan in more concrete terms what will happen after our stay in Vienna, I suddenly find myself being nostalgic about all the things I have come to cherish here and all those things I/we still haven't done (which is a lot!). I should make a list!

Pictures from today's trip out to Schönbrunn

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Having fun (at home!)

Laughing from Dorte Pedersen on Vimeo.

Sometimes you think you do something really funny in order to make the kid laugh (so much so that you are silently laughing on the inside of your own wittiness), and she is just sitting there, starring at you as if thinking: "why the heck is she doing that now?" Completely unimpressed. And other times you do something unintentional, which cracks her up.

This week Kindergarten has been NO fun. All of a sudden Silja realized that we are leaving her with a bunch of other kids and three strange women, and not even the most interesting moving, glittering, noisy toy can distract her from the sadness and anxiety that creates. Ouch! I hope it SOON gets better.

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....Y~N(0,\sigma_g K + \sigma_e I)....

The scientist of the household is crazy crazy busy, and all concentration seems to be directed towards the preparations for an important meeting tomorrow. So much so that things here end up in the strangest places.

(And just for record I did not come up with the title for this post... Obviously.)

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Home Again

We are home again. It's GOOD and we are extra thankful for having a happy healthy baby.

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Wonders of Modern Technology

This week Bjarni is in Texas for a conference. And even though he is so far away (and we miss him!), it does sort of feel like he is just around the corner thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

Skyping:

(Silja is excited Bjarni is now in the computer. The computer is interesting enough in the first place, but to see someone she knows in there is ... wuahh..)

Texting:

B: I'm at Target. Do you want anything from here?

D: Listerine [mouthwash] with vanilla.

...

B: They don't have vanilla?!

D: Then nevermind. How about some Burt's Bees. A lip balm...

B: OK

(I think my wishes are quite modest considering all the good things one can get at Target! Come to think if it though, I do realize mouthwash of all things is a little strange...)

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Sonne

My longing for spring was fulfilled yesterday, when the temperature reached 15 (!!) wonderful degrees. We went to the park and hung out near the play ground. The Icelander even took of his jacket, claiming it felt like an Icelandic summer day!

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Faces

Pictures from a Sunday stroll along the Danube canal. We were enjoying a little bit of sun, even though it was freeezing cold. Today is also sunny, but different from yesterday there's snow too. Booh! I want spring.

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A Weekend of Celebrations

We had a super busy, but very nice weekend with good friends and LOTS of food. Saturday Michelle & Alex hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, where we stuffed ourselves with all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Good stuff! Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday, and I'm happy and thankful we got to celebrate it even though we are now back in Europe.

Sunday was Bjarni's birthday and the first Sunday of Advent, so we invited his colleagues + spouses and kids over to celebrate both with waffles and glögg (mulled wine, Scandinavian style). When people left it had started snowing... Ayy, and that fits right into my growing Christmas mood.

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...

When you are spending a lot of time alone together weird things starts happening.

We are flying to Denmark tomorrow, and are so very excited to see both our families for Silja's baptism.

Baby Update

(as per request...)

We just got back from the pediatrician. Silja is now 4,7 kg (3,13 at birth) and 55 cm (48 at birth), so she is growing rapidly. We got a prescription for something to relieve the pain connected to her gassy stomach, so hopefully that will do good. The stomach aches are not a huge problem, but results in occasional screaming and discomfort. She is still a decent sleeper, and taking her along to restaurant- and museum visits has been completely doable. For the past two weeks or so she has been smiling consciously, which by the way is going straight to the happy hearts of her proud parents. She loves to hang out in an arm, but is also getting pretty good at laying on a blanket entertaining herself by poking at some of her toys. The pink elephant is by far the favorite.

Bjarni and myself? Slightly sleep deprived obviously, but otherwise fine. Bjarni has made himself an extra bed out in the hallway, which he sometimes (read: often) turns to in the middle of the night :) Myself am daily surprised by how fast the days go by at the moment. I still have a paper to submit to the university before the end of the month, but have no time (nor interest...) to look into that at the moment. Maybe I should cut back on this addictive TV series, which both Bjarni and I have been watching obsessively, whenever we have had a spare moment together since the arrival of Silja.

That is status at the moment in our little family of three.

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Holding Hands

The Scientist Hairdo

Sometimes when my questions or comments are replied with silence, when he is so focused on his arabidobsis thaliana and his genome wide association mapping (?!), his hair will look like this. I was even able to snatch this picture without him noticing. It's all beyond my comprehension..

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