from across the Atlantic…

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!

So to be very precise…Nell is 5 months old, one week, and one day…today!

Here is what babycenter.com has to say about her progress…although Nell’s progress should actually tracked as if she were only 4 months since she was born 4 weeks early!

Your baby can’t express her emotions in the same complex way you can. Although she can clearly let you know when she’s happy or unhappy, her ability to demonstrate her love and sense of humor is just developing.  As your baby gets older, she may start to cry when you leave the room and get excited when you come back in. She may also raise her arms when she wants to be picked up and give you pats on the back.  And you’ll probably see her getting your jokes — she’ll laugh at funny expressions and try to make you laugh too. Keep the laughter flowing with your silly faces!

As for additional developments that Lars and I have seen…there are more and more coming every single day!  Nell scream-sings all the time now…she screams so high pitched that no voice comes out at all and she makes herself cough!  So she’s testing her vocal cords BIG TIME!  Nell has also started lifting her head up off the ground when we go to lift her up and/or when she wants to be picked up.  If you hold Nell’s hands, she pulls herself up off the ground into a sitting position.  She is super strong in her legs now and stands when you support her…and Nell is sitting up supported now!  And she is rolling all over the place now…and constantly wants to be on her belly!  I guess it won’t be long until she’s crawling as she’s "swimming" on her stomach already!

There are still "teefers" on the way too…although we can’t see that any have broken through…Nell has her hands (preferrably both at the same time!) in her mouth constantly and now chews on her smok (pacifier) instead of sucking on it.

We were at the healthstation this week and got Nell’s 5 month stats.  She measures in at:
64,5cm = 25,4 inches
7,600 kilos = 16,8 pounds
WOW!

Nell also adores being outside these days…as her sense of where she is is definitely developing.  She is very curious about trees and seems to enjoy watching branches blowing and to see the sun filter in through the branches and leaves.

As for Nell’s favorite toys…her favs are gifts from family members which makes them extra speacial!  Here are the top 3…for now!  Her rooster - who we call Johnny Cash (from beste and bestefar), her sock monkey - Cooper (from beste and bestefar), and her monkey - unnamed so far (from Annie + fam)!  Her on-the-go stroller favorite is yet another monkey - who we call Mango (from me and Pappa)!

So there you’ve got the Nell-lowdown!  Remember to check out our website for more Nell pics…here’s the link to the folder fall 2009, which I’ll keep updating until winter 2009!!  Ha, ha!

3 years ago today Lars and I were married,
in the presence of 14 of our closest family members!

It was a wonderful trip to Seattle, and we were so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends.  Thank you to all of you who played a part in making our speical days together so memorable…

Here is the link to our pictures for a little reminising!

So this posting is the first since our trip to Seattle and my summer hiatus from blogging!

I don’t even really know where to start…and I’ve got my hands full with a jetlagged Nell…so I’m going to just give a bit of a summary at a time!  Just want to get this first posting out there, with the link to some pictures and then I’ll fill you in more a bit here and there.

Here are just a few of the highlights from our trip…

*getting girls (Nell and Anja Sol) together for the first time ever!
*Kristian, Katrina and Anja Sol’s family blessing party
*Lars’ Birthday
*Nell’s Baptism
*Seeing family and friends! 

The pictures from our trip are hard to upload (because there are about 1.000 of them and it would take me years!!)…so check back from time to time and I’ll try to get them up a few at a time!  I have also started a file in our photobucket album called "Fall 2009"…and I’ve been trying to take a few pics a day for my parents, so they can watch Nell grow!  They’ll be fun for everyone to look back on, and I haven’t been good enough at taking a few pictures here and there since Nell was born…so watch out, they’re coming now!

Phew…so first posting post-summer….UP!  I’ll write more soon!

bless⋅ed [bles-id; especially for 3 blest]

Took these pictures of Nell "crawling", last night!  Isn’t she just a doll?!?  I am just having too much fun being home with Nell and I feel so extremely privilidged that I get this year at home to watch her grow!  There is nothing I love more than walking into her room every morning and getting that heart-melting grin first thing!  Who knew I’d be this ga-ga for my girl?! 

This afternoon we were at the healthstation for Nell’s 3 month appointment and everything is going great!  Our jordmor was impressed that Nell is so active.  I told her than Nell is already baby-talking back to me and Lars, that she loves being on her stomach and that she is already rolling over! 

Its so fun that Nell is getting to be at an age where she can show love too…that she smiles at us, coo’s at us, and even puts her arms around our neck to hold on while we’re walking around home!  The other morning Lars went to get Nell out of bed and came out beaming…"Look!  She’s hugging me!"  It was so darling!  He even told his golf friends that he got his first hug! 

Nell also got her first vaccines today, the first of the series of three.  In Norwegian she got difteri, stivkrampe (tetnis), kikhoste, poliomyelitt and Hib-infeksjon (DTP-IPV-Hib), Pneumokokksykdom.  One in each thigh.  And she screamed bloody murder for them both!  Our jordmor said she was impressed with Nell’s pipes!  "Does she always have such a high pitched scream?" she asked me!  Ha, ha!  I told her yes, that Nell has screamed like a tea-kettle since the day she was born, but that we rarely hear her scream these days…she is such a good girl!  So dose 2 (of 3), Nell gets in October…more screaming to come!

As for stats,
Nell weighs 6,835 kilos (15 pounds)
she is 61,5 centimeters long (24 inches)
and her head circumfrance is 41,8 (16 inches)

My Nell update is so overdue that I don’t even know where to start!  Yesterday marked our 3 month, 3 weeks old Birthday!

Nell is changing and growing up even faster than I ever thought I could even imagine!  She is laughing, rolling over, trying to crawl when she gets on her belly, and she is just talking up a storm…just jibber jabber of course, but its constant!  And wonderfully enough, Nell is sleeping 12-13 hours with a dream feed…which means that after I put her to bed between 7 and 8, I feed her a bottle in her sleep at 11pm…which keeps her sleeping until 7 or 8am!  NICE!

Nell’s latest measurements (which were taken 3 weeks ago at her 3 month mark) were 6,49 kilos = 14 lbs and 61 cm = 24 inches!  Nell was at the 75th percentile in both her length and weight…so she’s a growing girl!  This Friday we have our three month check up at the healthstation…and Nell will be getting her first vaccines.  Will be great to check in with our jordmor and to hear what she has to say about Nell’s progress!

We are very busy giving our little girl all our love…I never knew I could love anyone this much!!

As you can tell I have not been blogging regularly lately…and I will defintely try to pick up speed again once we get back from Seattle at the end of the summer.

Things have cooled down here, so we’ve had a bit of rain and no extreme heat like we had a couple weeks ago.

Nell is growing up right before our eyes, even faster than we could have imagined!  She is now 14 pounds and 24 inches long…just over 3 months old!  As for a quick list of her latest accomplisments…she has rolled over several times from her back to her stomach, she is desperately sucking her fingers and thumbs (when she can get ahold of them), and she is babbling up a storm!  My mother-in-law is shocked at how much Nell and I "talk" during the course of a day and she thinks that its very early for a baby to carry on the way Nell does.  Its pretty hysterical.  We’ve been video taping some of it and once I figure out how to get it on the computer and online, I’ll share it.

So we’re having a TON of fun with our girl!  More pictures to come too, I’ll try to do an update before we leave for Seattle…

XOXOXOXO to you all!

Well…mom and pappa are on their way back to Seattle!  Swoosh…and their trip was over and they were whisked away about Lars this morning! 
It all went too fast!

My apologies for not blogging more often (as I had hoped to) and for not posting pictures on a more regular basis!  I have upload some new pictures to our picture site and will upload somemore in the next day or two also!

It was such a blessing to have my folks here and I already miss them TONS!  I can’t wait to see them again in August when we’re home and am SO glad that we have that trip booked so I can look forward to it!