Kasblah

Its amazing how alert Liv is at 3 months. She looks at everything around her, especially when she is in a new place. There was a lot of travel this month, summer holidays in Bergen with family again, cabin. Meeting grandpappa for the first time. At some point she decided napping wasn’t cool anymore so now we need to watch closely for signs of tiredness and put her to bed. She is often upset at this but staying up definitely makes here cranky. And cranky babies (much like adults) are no fun.

Speaking of no fun, this month Liv got her first vaccinations. It was a traumatic experience for all 3 of us. I had to hold Liv and she cried, really howled for a few minutes. No wonder, the needles looked adult-size. Fortunately she didn’t have any serious reactions to the shots. I read about 5% of parents are not getting shots anymore, and the nurse told us we didn’t have to get them, but I think it’s a good insurance.

In happier news Schnoupinette got an activity mat this month, she likes it a lot, and amuses herself for a while on it every day. Plus she spends more time on her back or stomach, which is good for her. There`s a bird, a cat that meuws and plays a tune, a ladybug, and more.

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.

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.

bouncing happily around in a warm pool of yum

Ja, det var mye spenning på gang denne helgen, vi annonserte våre bryllupsplaner til nærmeste familie. Det var vel ikke helt uventet i og med vi har holdt koken i snart 6 år nå, men jeg tror vi fremdeles klarte å overraske litt. Snøballen har begynt å rulle.