from across the Atlantic…

So, as many of you know…Nell and I are off to warmer weather soon!  Well…first rainy weather, then sunny-warmer weather.  But even rain is better than this -20C = -4F weather that we’ve been having!  The only good thing about it is that we haven’t had any more snow (its too cold) on top of the 4 feet that is still lying around!

Needless to say, we’re trying to get organized for our trip…and its hard since alot of our stuff is still in boxes in the basement!!!  Sooooooo, we’re trying to get things unpacked so we can pack for our trip!  Going through boxes, getting laundry done…and trying to get the apartment downstairs ready for our renters who arrive soon.  ALOT going on these days!  Vacation sounds like a dream!!!

So just as I’ve stepped back into the blogging scene and getting some "regular" postings up again…I’m going to be taking off and it will be quite awhile until I’m back online!  And then when I get home, I go straight back to work…so it will be interesting!  Hopefully I survive it!!!  A jet-lagged baby and working full time for the first time in over a year!  HELP…I’m going to need it!

back to work

Nell got her 1st pair of shoes yesterday and they are just too cute!  We hit the mall with Mor Mor (Sissel), found these darling bootie-shoes and the found bells to put on the laces.

Nell is doing great and has been an angel through out the holidays….super happy and patient at family parties, and very social!  I just can’t believe how quickly she’s growing and changing these days though.

Here are the latest developmets…
*Nell has started pushing herself back up on her knees when she’s laying on her tummy.  Then she rocks back and forth with her head down!  Too funny!
*She has started "sharing".  When Nell is playing with a toy, she’ll reach out her hand and give it to you…I’m sure this won’t last long! 
*Nell has started "reading"…she takes the book in both her hands, brings it in close to her face, and looks down her nose at the picture and studies!
*She has also started "dancing".  Nell LOVES singing and music.  She has started rockin’ out every time you sing to her.  She rocks her hips back and forth if she’s sitting…and bounces up and down if you have her standing.  Just breaking into tune puts a huge smile on her face!
*Nell is also easily rolling from her stomach to back now, which is funny to watch because in the beginning she was suuuuuuper careful…now she just flips herself over!

Can’t wait to visit Bestemor and Bestefar and to see what kinds of developments she has while we’re there!  Things are just happening so quickly…its mindblowing!  Crawling will definitely be on the "to-do" list while we’re in Seattle!

Merry Christmas from the Ystebø’s!

We woke up the morning of the 24th to a FOOT OF NEW SNOW!  Yikes!  We enjoyed the morning, watching the snow fall and opening a package for Nell from Bestemor and Bestefar.  Nell hadn’t seen the tree yet, as I picked it up the evening of the 22nd and had it outside until the 23rd when I took it in and decorated it after Nell had gone to bed.  Had a relaxing morning before Lars headed out to shovel show (for 2 HOURS!) and I started getting organized for the big to-doings at Tante Mette’s house!

Had wonderful time at Mette’s…a beautiful dinner and Nell was such angel!  She was up from when we got there (about 1430) until we left (2145)!  And she was super happy the entire time we were there.  Nell was VERY excited about their dog, and was screeching like I couldn’t even believe, every time that Pia walked through the room. 

This morning we haven’t done anything besides eat a cozy breakfast and sort through our goodies from last night!

Just wanted to send a Christmas greeting this morning and post some pictures of the 24th and 25th!  I hope that you and your family had a beautiful Holiday Season and are enjoying your family, friends and relaxation!

Nell and Pappa

Nell rocking her new sweatshirt from Bestefar!

opening presents with Pappa

26.12.2009 kl 13:10 - we have now had over 4 FEET OF SNOW since the morning of the 24th!  I can’t remember getting this much snow in that short amount of time as long as I’ve lived here!  The neighbors are all out shovelling snow for like the hundreth time…got to dig ourselves out again!

So the Holidays are closing in fast!  We are thrilled to be in the new house for Christmas…but are still working on getting organized!  And to be brutally honest, its slow going at the moment!

As for a quick Nell update:  She and I both got the swine flu vaccine last week, tooth number two(!) came in December 17th, she is pulling herself up and sitting up in her sleep, she is only sleeping twice a day for about 30-40 minutes (GROAN!), and she is babbling away every day in baby talk! 

SUPER excited about our upcoming travels, but not too excited about the long flight to Seattle with Nell (alone!).  I know jetlag will be much harder than last time…as it was like non-existant last time we travelled…but I’m hoping my mom can give us a hand the first few nights.  Will be interesting!  We will be there for awhile though, so plenty of time to get over it and still get all the family visits in!

Alright…signing off for now!  Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Phew…after a Saturday of moving, and some wonderful friends and family…we (and all of our belongings) are finally in the new house!  Just a few knick-knacks at the old apartment that I’m going to pick up next weekend.  It is SO incredible to see our things in the new house!  Just to see our sofa, bookshelves…our bed.  Let me tell you, there is no bed like your own bed!  We had been sleeping in the bunk beds (seperated, so they were next to each other) and had bought a used sofa to have in the apartment downstairs (for the renter) that we had been using…so its like a dream having our own things back!

I might not be posting much now until after Christmas…but I’ll try to keep you posted on things.  The downstairs and the storage room look like a disaster zone, so I’ve got to get cracking on putting things away.  And I have quite my work cut out for me!

So now that all the allergy drama has died down a bit and the results of Nell’s allergy testing is back (she’s only allergic to milk…not eggs, fish, nuts, etc) I’ve started giving Nell her recommended cod liver oil dose every day and she is loving it!  I can’t even believe it!  I mean this stuff is like toxic…one tiny drop on your finger and you smell it ALL DAY LONG!  Its a very common thing in Norway and everyone tries giving it to their kids…and most adults take it in capsule form (because they can’t manage to swallow it down!).  They say that you should start giving it to your child as early as possible or you’ll never get them to take it!  Ha, ha!  I started with Nell when she was an infant…but it was just too messy and ended up all over the place.  So took a break, but now that she eats from a spoon its much easier to get it in her mouth…and for it to stay there!

As for other food "adventures"…Nell has been loving her multi-grain cereal with fruit mixed in.  And this morning I tried making her quinoa cereal with fruit and she was super crazy about it!  Quinoa has tons of protein so its something I’ve wanted to try for awhile…and I got the green light from my helsesøster (our nurse that follows Nell’s growth) yesterday!  Turns out you can give it to babies as early as 4 months, so I had nothing to worry about.  I bought some figs yesterday that I plan on soaking out and adding to the quinoa cereal…I think that sounds delish…so we’ll see if Nell agrees.

Another interesting taste that Nell seems to love (and it surprises me) is broccoli!  I have a jar of organic baby food thats broccoli and brown rice…like the sickest taste ever plus the most bland taste ever…and she can’t get it down fast enough!  Now don’t get me wrong, I like broccoli…but I have to admit while I’m heating up her food I’m practically gagging because it reeks so bad!  So anyway, I thought that was fun because I was 100% sure that she WOULDN’T eat it while I was making it!

And in our last update of the day…we put Nell’s crib down on the bottom rung last night!  Hard to believe that it was time for that!  She has been ALL OVER her crib the past week or so and has started using the rungs to pull herself over…so I just felt like it might not be long until she start pulling herself UP.  She’s a growing girl!!!

So it looks like we’re finally going to get all of our stuff moved over to the new house!  We took over in late October, but after being back and forth a bit it seems we’re her to stay…and we love it!  Just need to get all our goodies over here with us!

Lars is having a minor knee surgery on Friday of this week, so we’ve asked all of our friends and family to come over on Saturday and help us move all the furniture from the apartment to the house.  We are soooooooooo extremely thankful for those who have the opportunity to help us!  Not easy with Nell underfoot, but we would not have managed the move, alone, at all since Lars knee isn’t any better.  So thank you, thank you, thank you to those who show up on Saturday!  I’ll try to take some pictures and will definitely take some pics as we get the house furnished in the way we want to.  Exciting!

In other news…(not really news though) Lars and I have been looking at strollers online to use while we’re on holiday in the states and while we’re travelling in Hawaii. I found this one, the Baby Jogger City Mini, that seems to be a great option for us.  Have any of you heard about it or have any other tips?  I looked at "watch it in action" section and the selling point for me was watching the lady fold the stroller up (just click on the arrow on the seat of the stroller and watch the video to the bottom right)…the stroller looks genius!  So going to keep an eye on it online and see if it might go on sale around or after Christmas since we don’t need it until January.  Just wanted to see if anyone had heard of Baby Jogger strollers.

Alright…off I go to keep organizing and cleaning up!

Since I’ve been so awful about blogging lately, I figured the least I could do is give you Nell’s latest developments. 

She is 8 months today and I just can’t even believe it!  As many of you know, I am sooooo fortunate to get a year’s maternity leave in Norway…and I can’t belive that I’m already going back to work in March!  Then Lars will take 6 weeks of Pappa-perm!  The year has just gone TOO fast and I miss it ALREADY!

So here is the news from the land of Nell…

*Nell has started saying "da-da" and I don’t think I have to tell you that Lars is THRILLED!

*As I mentioned, she has one tooth (her lower right) and there is one more coming in right nextdoor!

*Nell has discovered that she can rotate her wrists and ankles…so now instead of shaking a toy to make it rattle, she rotates her wrist to hear the sound.  Looks a little bizarre and we’ve laughed about it over and over….

*She is eating solids - back on after short break since she seemed to have an over sensitive gag-relex.  Banana seemed to be one of the key problems so we’re staying away from it.  Nell’s definitely a grazer though…she does not wolf down food what-so-ever, and I have to use FOREVER to get her to eat…and she rarely finishes a meal.  However, when it comes to her bottle she loves it!  It will be interesting to see if her appetite picks up or not.  Having fun trying new foods though.  And we’re starting to introduce the cup…as you can see!

*Nell is still sleeping through the night, as she almost always has.  She sleeps about 7 to 7 every night and takes 2 naps a day…one about an hour and a half (two if we’re lucky) and the other about an hour long.

*She’s not far from crawling now and she loves being up on her hands and knees, although I have to help her get up there.  She recently got a playpen from Sissel and she loves being in there!  Hopefully the bars will help her learn to pull herself up eventually…although to be honest (and selfish!) its awfully nice that she’s pretty immobile!  Crawling and walking will really kick the speed around here up a notch!

Alright, thats all for now…will update again soon!

ps LOVING the new house!  Cold again today, so I started the day with a roaring fire in the fireplace and Nell and I have been toasty all day!

So we experienced Nell’s first snow on November 2nd, but it was mild enough that it all melted away in the same day.  Had our second round on Monday the 30th and its sticking around!  Just a little bit on the ground, but its coooooold outside…so its here to stay!

Moving projects are slow going.  Nell is really keeping me busy and Lars has a bum-knee!  He’s going to a surgeon this afternoon to see if they should go in and correct anything.  I think he’s slow moving now…but if he has to have surgery he’s going to be NO-moving!  Then moving will be VERY difficult.  Think I’ll have to just pick a date, round up some boys, and get this show in the road!  No more taking a box here and there when we visit the old apartment.  So I’ll keep you posted, but it’d be nice to get most of this done before Christmas!

Nell is good…napping at the moment!  She is changing so fast and its hard to believe that she’s so big already!  On the 4th she’ll be 8 months!  Time sure does fly!  She got her first tooth on the 23rd of November (her lower, right, front tooth) and the past couple of days she’s been VERY fussy, so I think maybe the mate is coming in on her left side.  We’ll see. 

…Which brings me to a recommendation for moms out there…every one of you should have one of these Ringley Natural Teething Toys.  Nell got hers (the knotted one) from her Bestemor (my mom) and she just LOVES it!  I soak it in cold water and then give it to her to suck on.  Every baby I know loves to suck on their wet wash clothes, so this is perfect.  Plus it really seems to soothe Nell’s sore gums.  Even her pacifier is sore these days…poor thing!

Alright, off to get things done around the house while Nell Bell is sleeping away!!!

Greetings from what feels like the artic!  Brrrrrr!

Soooooooooooo…as you can see I’ve been missing in action!

With "moving" its been quite hectic!  And why I call it "moving"…I’ll explain…if you’ve got a day or two to listen!

We started by moving into the new house and we LOVE it!  Then we started on some projects, one of which was cutting out a door in the laundryroom…so that we’d take over a storage room that was previously part of the apartments that we’re going to rent out downstairs.  The wall is some kind of concrete balls, called lecca…and there was lecca dust EVERYWHERE!  We had taped off the upstairs, but it was all over upstairs.  Sooooo, out of the house we went!

We moved in with mom-and-law for a week, then back to the OLD apartment (that we’re still trying to sell, by the way!), and then finally (2 weeks later) we’re finally back in the house!  Phew!  Alright…that didn’t take so long to explain, but believe me…you don’t want all the nitty-gritties!

So, back in the house…absolutely adore it!

Been taking pictures of Nell like crazy and will try to get out pictures updated SOON!  I just have to find all the cables to the computer…now where did I pack those?!

Well, the verdict is in and Nell is officially allergic to milk!  Too bizarre given that my brother also suffers from a serious milk allergy!

We’ve been to the pediatritian and allergy specialist and Nell reacted big time to the prick test on her arm…but not to egg, only to milk (those were the 2 things they tested her for at this point).  They also took blood (from a vein in her neck…which was heartbreaking to watch!) and will test her further by her bloodwork.  They don’t see us, and we keep Nell dairy free, for the first year…then they’ll have us back in to test again.  For now we have Nell on Neocate formula and have introduced her to risgrøt as you saw…Most likely this will be something that Nell will grow out of, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Other than that just gearing up for the big move!  Will keep you posted!

As many of you know…Lars, Nell and I will be moving shortly!  We have bought a beautiful home overlooking the golfcouse and we couldn’t be more tickled!

We take over the 15th of October, so not long now!  And we have a TON of packing (that thankfully we’ve started on already) to do at home before we get our place out on the market!  We’re hoping that it’ll be out in the next 2 weeks…so keep your fingers crossed for us!

There will PLENTY of house updates to come!  I can’t wait to get over there!

(side note: here is a link to pictures of the new house…I’ll try to post plenty from inside during the move and once we get settled!!)

I absolutely hate getting behind on my blog because by the time I sit down to write I have so much to say that I don’t even know where to start!!!  Needless to say, that makes me put off updating my blog and it ends up being like a month until I finally get back into the swing of things….

So…where to start?

The latest updates I guess would be that we’ve started Nell on some formula, and that she also has what we think is a milk allergy.

I’ve been running a little low in the afternoons (in the milk supply area) so I tried giving Nell some dairy free formula that was recommended by the hospital that she was born at.  The stuff smells terrible and tastes even worse…so surprise, surprise…she wasn’t interested in taking it.  So, after days of an irritable baby and tons of screaming after each feed because she just wasn’t satisfied I thought to myself, "I’m just going to buy regular old baby formula (with milk) and try giving it to Nell.  What are the chances of her having a milk allergy like Kristian?"

Boy was I wrong to take things so nonchalantly….at least we had the sense to try this during the daytime and didn’t do the feeding right before bed.

After about 2 minutes of trying to get Nell to swallow the stuff (it just sat like a pool in the back of her throat until she’d spit it out again), and it splashing all over her face Nell ended up with red patches with white hives in them…all around her mouth and neck…and all over her lips.  Not a pretty site.  Lars totally paniced and was afraid that the same thing might be happening in her throat, as the hives were swelling up big time.  So off we went to the emergency room, and the verdit for now is a serious milk allergy.  So they advised us to keep Nell completely off dairy until we’ve done some serious allergy testing…which we’ll do late next week.  That should be interesting!

And Nell celebrated her 1/2-Birthday yesterday…Happy 5 months and 4 weeks old to Nell!  She got her first taste of risgrøt (rice cereal) to celebrate her 1/2-Birthday!  Lars gave the grøt to her while I was busy snapping photos, and he was sooooooo proud!  He thought it was so much fun!  Messy, but fun!

I’ll try to be better about updating more often again…but these days I’m busier than ever!  Tons of errands to run and get done at home…and lots of crawling around on the floor, playing with Nell Bell!  Make sure to check out all of our new pictures (including the grøt face mask) under Nell’s Fall 2009 pictures!