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.

Of course, the model didn’t just include electric use, but rather all energy use translated into watts. So our 2000 watts include all the energy used to make our lives go round: the energy used to produce and deliver our food, our gadgets, the fuels used to run our vehicles, etc, they even included the energy used to run sewage plants and other “invisible” things that make our everyday what it is.

So the 24/7 hairdryer doesn’t seem a lot for all this after all? Unfortunately 2000 watts was the planet average. 2004 figures estimate the average European uses three times the average (6000 watts) and the average American twice that again (12,000 watts). Norwegians weigh in at a hefty 8,000 watts.

Not surprisingly the model paints a world of energy haves and have nots, but more alarmingly gives us a reminder how energy use will grow in the future as nations like China and India continue their rapid development. And unfortunately most of the energy we use today comes from limited, non-renewable, carbon-emitting sources. In addition to the impact on global climate there is the risk of conflict as resources grow scarcer.

Along with the model came a vision of a 2000-watt society. A world where most people limit their energy use to 2000 watts. The model aims to more evenly redistribute energy as well as establish a sustainable level of energy usage for the future. Technological advances play a major role in reaching this goal, such as passive house design, zero-energy buildings, low-emission vehicles, etc.

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.

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.

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!