Kasblah

Hello World! I’m going to get ya! Seems like time is passing weirdly fast, Liv is already much bigger, livelier, more smiles, still crying, saving her poops for many days before releasing a huge batch, more baths, another trip to Bergen, to the cabin, seemingly enjoying the adventure.

Hard to believe its been a month now since we quickly left for the hospital evening of April 29, Sabine’s waters lost, a baby on the way, our lives about to change. I remember sitting in the waiting room, the nurse telling me to come back the next morning, labor surely wouldn’t start anytime soon. But I lingered and one hour later was anytime soon! 3 hours later I am cutting an umbilical cord with tears of joy in my eyes. I sat by Sabine’s side through the whole labor, my water-serving task seeming immensely insignificant compared to her struggle. But finally in the corner of my eye I saw something amazing appear. First cautiously revealing and retracting its tiny head several times before suddenly appearing in full, as if she had decided to jump out! And then life was before us, our little Liv, on her mother’s chest, peering out at a strange new world.

In the days that followed I commuted between home and the hospital, Liv and Sabine stayed 3 days and I visited as much as I could. Liv probably slept best of us all, ignoring the noise of the ward, getting to know us slowly. She came 3 weeks early and was only 2.75kg at birth, but quickly got the hang of sucking milk. At the health station today she weighed in at 3.8kg, gaining almost 40% weight in a month, pretty amazing (and possibly a bit too much.. )

At home she continued to adjust to her new life, sleeping, eating, and pooping mostly. And crying, sometimes a little, other times a lot which is quite exhausting. A few times she would not calm, her stomach rumbling, its hard to be so helpless in face of her agony. Helsesøster tells Sabine to feed her her less, give her a pacifier instead of the breast between meals. She is a little gourmand. And she had her first bath, loved the bath, hated getting out. The warm liquid probably reminded her of the womb, she seemed quite tranquil and her eyes were full of wonder. Our bathroom is very tight so it probably wasn’t the best place to give her a bath.

Initially we wanted to shield Liv and ourselves from visitors, concentrating on resting and getting comfortable at home. But after the first 2 weeks we started feeling a bit alone and decided to travel to Bergen to visit family. We traveled by train, which was quite relaxing, Liv slept most of the 7 hour trip. She likes trains like her papa! Once in Bergen we did some intense family visits, Liv was the star.

We are superlucky with the weather these days, its warm, the sun is out, and we have been out many times with the stroller. In town, at the Spar, in the forest, this girl’s mobile!

Resting on my chest, suckling on her loly, she looks up at me with her beautiful eyes and makes a grin, yeah its tough at times but so worth it.

Important to have something yummy to eat at 3 AM when baby is hungry (and mama gets hungry too

Update: here’s the recipe

175g flour
200g oatmeal
140g butter
100g brown sugar
50g light syrup
1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp baking powder
100g chopped raisins
200g chopped dark chocolate
70g chopped hazelnuts
1/2 dl water

Mix flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, salt, and oatmeal until crumbly. Add syrup, raisins, and water, mix until doughy. Add chocolate and nuts. Roll dough carefully into a long sausage, chill in fridge about 30 minutes. Cut roll into slices approx. 1 cm thick, put on a tray with baking paper. Pre-heat to 200C, lower to 175C. Cook for approx 10-15 minutes in middle of oven. Cool on a grid.

Enjoy!

Miss Liv Marie Strømme - 6hrs young

As we settled for dinner last night little did we know our lives were about to change. 3,5 weeks early Sabine`s waters broke and off we went to the hospital. At 3:03 AM this small miracle emerged. She weighs a decent 2.75kg, is 47cm tall, and seems content with the outside world.

when your honey makes you one (or three) of these…

Seems everyone has a post on April Fools, so here’s mine:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/betamaxhd.html

Video geeks will enjoy the irony of this one…

I dunno what they put in that string but I know I want some!

Ikea ads can be quite smart and playful. Last time we went there the store was full of posters saying Kom deg hjem (loosely translated Go Home; are we supposed to turn around and go home once we get to Ikea?)

The newest campaign for beds encourages Norwegians to proliferate with a variety of cheeky slogans, including

Never more a small country in the world - poignantly expressing the Norwegian desire to be an “important” country in the world

Take responsibility for your pension, create more taxpayers - tapping into the real problem of a bloated welfare state unsupportable by the next generation

Tired of never getting a plumber when you need one? - jokingly noting the serious labor shortage in the hyper-expanding Norwegian economy.

and finally the catch-all

Population growth starts in the bedroom! - Yes, but despite the generous leaves and child benefits offered to parents the native growth rate in Norway like most of western Europe is stagnant if not negative. Just like the beds Ikea sells, population growth is more likely to come from low-cost countries abroad.