Much Improved Day!

Thanks for all of the encouraging comments on yesterday's post.

Today was much better. Katherine went to Mother's Day Out. Nana and I hung out. Today we decided to run errands. I made a list of all the places I needed to go, mainly to return or exchange things and then we set out. We went to the post office, Target, Sam's, Pottery Barn, Wild About Harry's (for lunch), A friends house to drop something off, Hobby Lobby, Target and then to my dad's office. Caroline slept through the entire thing. At two of the stops Nana stayed in the car with Caroline and she came in to the rest. Not only did I feel very productive but I was proud that I did all of that with a baby. I have not run that many errands with Katherine in a long time. It was fun to go to Pop's office to introduce Caroline to all of my co-workers (I work up there a little too). After the office I introduced Nana to Bubble Tea at Fat Straws.

When we got home, Nana and Katherine had a snack, played with animals and then Nana got Katherine down for a nap. That changes the entire tone of the day. She woke up in a great mood. We ate dinner, went for a walk as a family and had smoothies while watching Diego before bed.

I know that there will be good days and there will be bad days. I am thankful that today was good!

The Last Supper and a Moment of Silence - Please

Tonight Sam and I had a moment of silence for our dear dishwasher and oven. You see, we still have original 1971 appliances in our kitchen. We are long overdue for some updates both due to decor and function. All of our original appliances are yellow to match our yellow counter tops. Luckily it is a softer yellow than most that were used in the 70's but still, I have been wanting to replace them. And tomorrow we will! We are currently redoing our master bath, not our kitchen, so how is it that we are replacing these appliances? Well, my parents are wrapping up an even larger remodel of their kitchen, breakfast room and den (when then has added the exterior of their house and soon the office). When they gutted their kitchen they happened to have a dishwasher that was about 2 years old and an oven that was less than a year old which were given to us (along with stove, sink and fridge which we are not installing quite yet). So, tomorrow while the contractors are here (who happen to be the same ones my parents are using) they are going to install the oven and the dishwasher (along with a long list of "honey do" items from Sam's list.
So, tonight I actually took a photo of our "Last Supper" cooked in our oven and the last load of dishes to be washed to commemorate the event. We had a moment of silence. Sam even suggested that the workers could probably remove the yellow front to the dishwasher and put it on the new one if I so desired. I declined his kind offer. I will show the "after" photos tomorrow.

As far as the bathroom, if all goes as planned, it will be finished tomorrow. We got a little behind schedule due to the rain which produced so much humidity that the texture was taking too long to dry. That set us back a little. Be on the lookout for some "after" photos of the bathroom as well.

Nightly Routines

We have some new bedtime rituals with Katherine. One regards brushing her teeth. She all of a sudden did not like to brush her teeth anymore. So, I put her on the changing table and I brush her teeth as she brushes mine. It is quite an art to use my tongue to prevent her from choking me but I am able to get all of her teeth brushed well.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We have also started to blow dry her hair. She came in once and asked to do it and now we do it almost every night. She likes the way it feels. I use my brush but there is not really too much styling to it and it always looks pretty silly in the morning. She is certainly in an awkward hair phase where it is always in her eyes. She usually either refuses to wear a clip or ponytail or else she pulls it out during the day.

Cleaning Out

I am desperately trying to clean out the guest room to prepare it to become Katherine's "big girl" room. My goal is to move her into her new room in April so that she does not associate it with being displaced by her baby sister.

Our guest room has been a spare room that is a catch all for everything for the past 4+years since we moved into this house. It has been quite a chore to clean it out and it has led to cleaning out many other areas of the house. This is not a bad thing as our entire house really needs to be purged of a lot of stuff but it is making it take a lot longer than I had hoped to clean out the guest room.

Here are a few pictures of the room before I started cleaning it out.

The bed full of stuff
Hmm, my childhood desk, a box covered by a quilt, an antique (broken table), an exercise ball and a bookcase. A very random collection of things for one corner.
The closet full of all kinds of random things.

I started really by cleaning out my closet. Yes you read that right, my closet, not the guest closet. Hmmm, my closet is not in the guest room. Why would I start there? Well, in the guest closet are all kinds of things like my off season, outgrown and maternity clothes. Also there are some Christmas decorations, all of my gift wrap and gift bags, costumes (from years as a youth leader and camp counselor), leaves to our kitchen table and travel gear. When I clear out that closet, I will need to put all of that stuff somewhere and a lot of if will end up in my closet. So I now have a clean closet. I have cleaned out and given away a lot of outgrown and outdated clothes. I have put most of my summer wardrobe in bins in the garage and made room for my maternity clothes. I also cleared out a lot of space on the shelves for things like the travel stuff and Christmas decorations.

Next I cleaned out under my bed. Again, why my bed? Well, gift wrap is under the guest bed and now it and the table leaves need to go under my bed. I am embarrassed that under my bed was about 3 years worth of magazines and books. It seems that when company is coming over they get neatly stacked under the bed and out of sight. Luckily that was easy to clean and I put

the books on shelves and trashed a lot of the magazines with a goal of trashing at least one additional magazine per day. While there was nothing under the bed, we moved all of the furniture around and did a good vacuuming of the floor. Probably our floor under the bed has not been vacuumed since we moved in. It is amazing how dirty it can get under there.

Another day I ended up working on my craft armoire in the office. Yikes, still not in the guest room. That is because under the bed in the guest room was also some random scrapbooking stuff. When I went to put it in the craft armoire, there was not room so I started to reorganize my crafting supplies. I did not totally clean out my scrapbooking stuff but I did make room for everything I needed to put in the armoire.

The closet is now almost empty. The Christmas decorations are in the attic with the exception of the candles which will melt. The travel gear is in my closet. I spent most of a week organizing my gift wrap, gift bags, bows, ribbon and tissue paper. That stuff is breeding in my closet. You can see the fruits of my labor by a rainbow colored box of tissue paper (I know-Type A). Most of that is in the hall closet or under my bed.

There is still a lot to do and there is no telling when Katherine will finally get to move into her "big girl" room. But, when she does, the entire house will be a neater, cleaner place. And that my friends, is a very good thing.

I do already have bedding for both girls' rooms already. I found Katherine's on clearance at Pottery Barn. Her walls are yellow and it will match perfectly. She likes it a lot and talks about her big girl bed.

Even though we are having a second girl, we planned to buy both a new crib and new bedding. Both were handed down to me by college roommates (thanks Ashley and Diana) so we don't feel badly about spending money. I think it will help Katherine who is in the possessive "mine" stage to have it different and it is just fun to redo. The walls in that room are blue. It is not the easiest thing to find blue girl bedding that is cute. I found a new set on Craig's list this week and you can see it below. It came with everything but the pictures, mobile and lamp.

Glimpses into our week

We had a busy week and it seems like Katherine continues to do so many new things. She is so much fun. Here are a few glimpses into happenings of our week.



I scored big time at the Children's Place. They are having a sale on winter and even some spring clothes and everything on sale was an additional 50% off. Add to that my 20% off coupon and there were great deals. I bought 3 pairs of Christmas footy PJ's for next year (2 for squeak and 1 for Katherine to match), 2 sweatshirts, a top, a pair of pants and a winter coat. All of this for only $34. The winter coat along was originally $50 and I only paid $8. That made my day. To church she wore her "Princess Poncho" that Nana made for her. She usually is not quite so pink and girly but every once in awhile I think it is super cute. I especially love her curly bows in her new signature hairstyle of 2 pigtails (or "two hairs") that stick straight up. I guess it is a little unique because everyone comments on them.

Katherine has now said her first complete sentence. She talks ALL THE TIME. But, she usually leaves out the verb for some reason. That is, unless it is a command like "mommy, eat" or "mommy, hold me". The other day she said something in the car and Sam and I looked at one another and realized it was a complete sentence with a subject, verb and direct object. We cannot for the life of us remember what she said. So, for the baby book today's sentences of "feet are cold" and "mommy, tie it in bow" will be recorded as the first complete sentences.

When I went to pick up Katherine at Mother's Day out on Monday I was greeted by the cutest thing. She and the two other girls in her class had climbed into the three rocking chairs to read books. They were all lined up busy reading. I wish I had a photo. Of course the moment she saw me she hopped off and ran to the door. She is always excited to see mommy. I love that she loves to read and hope that it becomes a lifelong love of hers. On her daily sheet I saw one comment for the first time, "successful on the potty". Yeah Katherine!

After MDO we went to Pop's office to sign some papers. Katherine was excited to go see Pops at his office. On the way out something happened that I laughed at but felt so badly about doing so. We were walking through the lobby to leave the building and there is a revolving door, two other doors and the wall - all glass. All of a sudden Katherine decided to run ahead. She ran right into the glass wall and fell flat on her back. It was just like when a bird flies into the window trying to get into the house. She was stunned and so was I but I could not help but laugh. She shook it off quickly and was fine.

The time between MDO and when Daddy gets home is always a little rough. I think this is due to a nap that is only about half the length of a normal nap. Our routine is to get a snack and sit on the couch reading or watching a video. Katherine though was in the mood to play around. She drank her yogurt and then spit it out. I took it away and turned off the movie. She calmed down as we read. Then I gave her the yogurt back and told her that if she spit it out again she would be punished. Well, she repeated it. I punished. About 10 minutes later she came over to me and said, "Fafrine (her version of Katherine) pankin, yogurt" and then she stuck out her tongue to show that she spit it out. I was amazed. I think that in this case discipline clicked. She told me how she was punished and why. She also told me that it made mommy sad.

Tuesday my friend from childhood, Karen, and her daughter, Kaitlyn came over to play. I don't think the girls have played together since about last May when they were new walkers so this was quite fun to have them together again.

I went to Canton on Thursday by myself for First Monday Trade Days. I tried to find a shopping buddy but no one else was available to go. I actually kind of liked it because I could go at my own pace and only go in the booths I wanted to go in. I bought Katherine more bows and our collection warranted a "bow holder" so that was my craft for the weekend. It is basic at just a pair of ribbons hanging from a wooden frog to match her bathroom. The problem is that already there are 3 bows that don't fit so I need to modify my design.

Canton is such a funny place. There were a few things that I always laugh at.

1. The people who rent scooters that usually only disabled people drive. Are you just that lazy that as a totally able bodied person with no obesity issues you cannot walk like everyone else? It was not very crowded since I went on a Thursday so some of these people on scooters were going very fast in my opinion.
2. People with the special carts complete with quilted liners, cup holders and all kinds of accessories. You know you are a serious flea market attendee when you have well over $100 wrapped up into the "shopping cart" that you take to haul your goods. Me, I just take a rolling suitcase. I am sure it looks quite funny but it works for me.
3. I laugh at the people who bring their pets and carry them around in little pet strollers. Seriously people, leave them at home!

On a very frustrating note, this week when I turned on my palm pilot, it said there was a fatal error and to reset. It would not reset and kept saying fatal error. So, the palm is trash. My question to all of you - what do you use as a calendar? Are you an electronic person or a pen and paper person? If you use pencil and paper, I would love to know if you have a calendar you love. I am considering going back to the old fashioned way.

Highs and Lows

This week has barely started and there are already a list of highs and lows.

The Highs:

• Katherine has now been fully weaned for 2.5 weeks. She does still ask for it every day but I think she is kind of joking now. She will crawl into my lap and squish my chest and say "moot (milk), other side" over and over. Then she will say "mama empty, milk all gone". Today I reminded her that she had her yogurt milk in her cup to drink now (Kefir and milk mix) and she pointed to my chest and said, "mommy yogurt". Wouldn't that be fun if I made yogurt.
• Because Katherine is now weaned I am again able to cuddle and put her back to bed. That was the hardest part. For over a week I was having to distance myself and not have much cuddle time. It was hard. It was good that Sam has been home and he is such a great dad.
• Much, much family time. Sam has over 3 weeks of no work since he quit one job and delayed the start of the next one. We are getting a lot of family time which Katherine loves and we are getting a lot done around the house.

The Lows

• Tantrums - yikes, our sweet little girl can be a Jekyll/Hyde personality. She has thrown some major tantrums. We are really struggling with how to best deal with them. She is trying so hard to be independent. Sometimes she has done something she knows is wrong and it needs to be punished but sometimes she is just exploring her world and mommy says, "No". Then, mommy tries to show empathy and redirect her. For example, the other day I was folding clothes in her room and she was in her bathroom. I hear her say, "wet, mess". I turn around and she was dipping a burp cloth in the toilet and then using it to clean the tub. I took a deep breath and chose not to blow up or punish her. How would she know that the water in the toilet was not to be used to clean whereas the water in the sink or tub was? I got down on her level and said, "Katherine, you are such a good helper. We don't use the water from the toilet. Why don't we get a clean towel and mommy will get it wet in the sink and then you can use it to clean the bathtub." Her response - "yeah mommy". If I had taken away the burp cloth and told her "no" then she would have started a tantrum. There are plenty of those anyway so I want to avoid them when I can redirect.
• Potty training and diapering is getting to be frustrating. My plan was to switch back to cloth diapers after the holidays. The hope was that because they are cloth and feel more like underwear it would help us to finish off potty training. Well, between travel and sickness, it got put off until today. I have tried twice to put her in a cloth diaper and both times it has resulted in one of the aforementioned tantrums. Her request - "Elmo diaper mommy." I hate Elmo for this. I refuse to buy cute cloth diapers so that she will wear them when I have a perfectly good stash. I have not chosen to make it a battle yet because I know that she can and will probably win. If I do get the diaper on her, she is now capable of taking them off. Where does that leave me? With a big old mess. I was going to a cloth diaper store today to buy some petite training pants but they were closed due to an illness so that was a bummer.
• Sinus infections will not leave. All three of us seem to be stuck in a state where we are not really sick but we don't feel great either. Katherine actually has a runny nose (clear) and Sam and I just have the congestion, sore throat and cough. The worst part for me as that this is the only thing making my pregnancy sickness happen.

I know that parenting (and life for that matter) is always full of highs and lows. Those are just a few from this week.

Friends

I consider myself an outgoing, social person who is fairly easy to get to know. Still, for some reason, the idea of moving to a new place where I knew no one was a bit intimidating for me. I knew that no one in Oslo would be looking out for me or concerned about my social life.

I have been frustrated at times. I would meet a cool mom at the playground or open kindergarten and exchange email and phone numbers but then I would never hear from her and if I called her it seemed we could not connect. I went to an international playgroup and met some cool moms that I enjoy talking to but we don't ever get together outside of the playgroup time. I expressed my frustration about this to someone at an American Women's Club meeting and she honestly told me that in the expatriate community if you are not going to be around for two years you are often not worth the time to get to know because they are tired of having people come and go in their life. So, as someone here for only three months, I was not worth their time. When I met people who were here for a few years they would almost downplay the time I was here. When I would say, "three months" they would comment that it was just a vacation. As our time draws near to the end, I realize that three months really is not that long, but yet, it can get lonely and you do need friends.

I do not have as many friends here as I do back home but I have really enjoyed the friends whom I have made. It has been fun because I have met a lot of people who are not exactly like me. Back home, most of my friends have very similar stories and lives. Here, there is more diversity. It is fun. I have friends who are older, friends who are younger, friends who are Norwegian, friends who are American, friends who are Australian. Some share my views on family, child raising, religion and politics and others are very different in these areas.

I have really appreciated those who have welcomed me and reached out to me. I have been shown areas of the city I would not have discovered on my own. I have been shown incredible generosity. All I have to do is mention something that I miss from home or wish I had and someone offers to let me borrow theirs. We have borrowed a stroller, crib, winter clothing, kitchen items, an air mattress, tools, etc. It has taught me a lot about generosity. I need to make sure I am that generous with my things when I go home.

• Hilde, Mark and Nikolas - Thank you for reaching out to me before we even met by offering to let me use Lona's crib. I have so enjoyed getting to know you as you have shown me Norwegian culture and many areas of Oslo. Katherine loves Nikolas and we will miss our weekly times with you.
• Sarah and Aiden - I love that we call one another to do things last minute. We are the same in that regard. I love that we can discuss our differences without offending each other. It has been fun to see Katherine and Aiden interact and have so much fun together.
• Patrick, Karen, Colin and Vivien - I sure wish we could have hung out more. We all really clicked as we are in Norway working for the same company. We look forward to hanging out with you back at home.
• Donna, Stew, Sophie and Isabel - I sure wish we had met you earlier in our trip. We sure enjoyed dinner together. It is fun to have a couple where the men can hang, the women can hang and we can all hang together. I love hearing all of your funny Australian sayings too.
• Luckey and Christa - You all have been so incredible. You truly have shown the love of Christ to us. We had been here less than 48 hours when you picked us up for church and then had us over for dinner. you have been so helpful in helping us to get acclimated to Oslo and we have really enjoyed our time and our conversations together.
• John and Anne Grethe - I wish we had been in town at the same time more often but we are both sure on the go. It is fun to be with a fellow Texas. You sure can cook a mean elk stew.
• Cally - What a great babysitter! Thanks for loving on Katherine.

Nanas

You would think that when Katherine says "Nanas" it would referring to her Nana. No, Nana is pronounced "lalala". "Nanas" is actually how Katherine pronounces the name of her buddy Nikolas here in Norway. That is the funny thing about kids and language development (correct me if I am wrong Heather and Amy). It seems that she has the ability to say certain sounds but there is something about the way she hears things and says things that often is not consistent.

Anyway, Katherine loves Nikolas. It amazes me the things she remembers. The other day I mentioned to Sam when we sat Katherine in a restaurant high chair that is different than what we are used to that it was the kind she sits in at Nikolas' house. Katherine heard me mention Nikolas and started to say "Nanas" and do the sign for "cat". Nikolas has a cat. She hear me say his name and made those connections.

Today I went to a playgroup at my friend Donna's house. To get there we took a bus and happened to get off at the same stop that we get off for Nikolas' house. When we got off the bus, Katherine said, "Nanas" I was so amazed. To me, most of the city looks very much the same. We have only been to Nikolas' house 3 times but there was something at that bus stop that alerted her to the fact that we were in his area.

Since we were in the area, I have Hilde a call and after my playgroup we met at the river to feed the ducks. Katherine was happy to get to play with Nanas.

I am not a fan of Mondays

Who really likes Mondays? Not really anyone I know. For most it marks the end of a weekend and the beginning of a work week and who wouldn't rather be off work than at work? Even though I do not work outside the home (I can't say I don't work, taking care of Katherine is a lot of work!) I still dread Monday because Sam returns to work. We have been having so much fun as a family on the weekend.

For some reason it seems that the last few Mondays the weather has not been great in Oslo. Usually Katherine and I like to spend time at a park each day. When it is raining, we try to find something indoors. Last night I was looking online to try to plan our day because it was forecasted to rain off an on. I got so frustrated because of the 50+ museums and sites in Oslo, the only ones open on Monday that I had not already seen were the Kon Tiki Museum (another ship) and the Design and Architecture Museum. These were not at the top of my list. Even hoppaloppaland (kids play area) was closed on Monday.

So, I had a plan for the day. First we went to visit a music school that I was told had kids classes like Kindermusik - no luck, they only let you sign up for 1/2 year. Then since it was not raining yet, Katherine played a little at the park by the music school. Then we got on the tram (not easy to go up 4 steps with a stroller) ad went to the Design and Architecture Museum. It was in an old electric station that had been redesigned. The exhibit was very small and not that interesting. It was right by the river though so we walked around for a bit. It was not really that pretty because there was graffiti. There was a huge organic grocery store and restaurant so I thought we would grab lunch and a few groceries. Uh-Oh - I have no wallet. I had taken it out of my purse to take some money out to hide (we get a lot from the cash machine but don't like to carry it all). I forgot to put it back in my purse. This means I have no money at all, and no transportation pass so I prayed we would not get checked. I have not been checked yet but I knew today would be the day.

I had thought I would wander around the shopping mall near the wharf but without a wallet, what is the point? So, we headed back home. When I got to our building I realized that my walled also contained the key card to get into our apartment building. Urgh. I called the one person in our building that I knew and they were not home. I pressed a few random buttons and no one answered. Finally I went to the kitchen shop that is in our building and asked them to let me in through their storage room that connects to our basement.

So, it has been a boring day full of frustrations. We are home now. After Katherine's nap we may go to the park because I see the sun. Then we will head to the grocery store - with a wallet.

So, for those of you in the US who are just waking up to Monday, I hope you have a better day than I did.

Magic Jack

Well, we have been in Norway for 7 weeks now and we finally are TRULY connected to those of you back home. We have just received our Magic Jack. What is a Magic Jack you might ask? Well, our friend Jesse wrote about it on his blog much better than I can but basically it is a little "thingy" that you plug a phone into and then plug into your computer and then you get a US phone number that people can call and you can call out. All for FREE! Well free after you pay $40 for the equipment and 1 year of unlimited calling. So tonight we set it up and sent out a quick email to a few friends and family with the number and we have been on the phone all night as the phone has been ringing off the hook.



So, if you want to give us a call, email me and I will send you the number (sorry, not posting it on the internet).

Sign Baby Sign

I think that sign language for babies and toddler is great. Very few people in Norway have heard of it and I have yet to meet anyone else who has done it. The most common response is to ask if she or anyone in our family is deaf.

We started doing sign language with Katherine when she was about 6 months old. At that time we did the basic mealtime signs. I even took a 6 week class. I got frustrated because she was not doing the signs back. Finally she did a few. We took another class. It was awesome and the timing was much better. I guess Katherine was 10-11 months and more receptive to learning the signs. At about 13-14 months she started doing a lot.

Now she is a sponge and will repeat and remember signs after we do them only a few times. She knows 50-60 of them and is limited only by the fact that I don't know more. I am always trying to remember to go online to look them up.

Some may wonder why you would do sign language with a baby who hears in a family of people who hear. Babies are able and wanting to communicate long before they are able to physically form words. Their motor skills are ahead so they are able to communicate with their hands earlier. It can be really helpful as a parent to know what your child is trying to say when their words all sound the same. "ba" can be book, bear, bottle, bug and many other things but she knows those signs so when she says "ba" and does the sign for "book", I know she wants to read. It also eases their frustration.

Knowing sign language also helps me to realize how much Katherine knows and notices. She will do a sign for "monkey" and I will look around for a monkey and see Curious George on the cereal box. This kind of thing happens almost daily. She can't say the word "monkey" so without sign language I would not know that she is so observant and she might get frustrated that I don't know what she is excited about.

If you have a baby or toddler, I highly recommend doing sign language with your child. There are all kinds of websites and books that you can get if you are good as a self learner. We also love the Signing Time Videos. There are all kinds of classes too. They are a lot of fun and very motivational as a parent to learn and do the signs. The class I took with Kari through the local Kindermusik was great. If you live in my area and are looking for something this fall, the next round of classes begin in mid-October.

To show off my sweet girl, here is a video of Katherine signing, mainly animal signs which are her favorite. She also knows a lot of signs related to eating and diapering.

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby

On this trip Katherine has had to adjust to a lot of sleeping changes. Of course just adjusting to a 7 hour time change would be enough to throw off any toddler but she has also had to adjust to a change in venue many times.

First we had not received our luggage or shipment so she slept in our bed with us. She still naps there a lot.

Then we received our luggage and her travel bed. Now she had her own space but as you see, she could roll out of it.

Finally a real crib thanks so my Norwegian friend, Hilde. This crib is working really well for us.

Naps are another story. We are just on the go so much and she has not been able to fall into a consistent schedule. Katherine has not really had a consistent schedule so I guess this is not a surprise. The problem with this is that we are not always at home by her crib when it is time for a nap. So, Katherine has become adaptable.

She has fallen asleep in the back pack. You should have seen me the other day when she fell asleep there this week when I was unlocking the door to our building. I somehow successfully got her to continue her nap for 2 hours in my bed without waking her up. I kept her on my back and laid down on the bed on my stomach. Then I slowly slid her off.

She has slept in our arms while in transit or eating out many times.

Again I was impressed with myself as I successfully transferred her from my lap to the restaurant bend for a nap that was over an hour long (really slow restaurant.)

And she frequently falls asleep in her stroller. This has been a huge help many times though it is not fool proof. There have been plenty of times that we were out and I wished she would sleep in her stroller but I pushed my limits and ended up carrying her home. Not fun!

Hump Day

I realized that yesterday was hump day - not because it was wednesday, the middle of the week but because it was the middle of our trip to Norway. That means we are in the downhill stretch. Since I have a lot of people who keep asking when we are coming home, I have added a "ticker" on the bottom of the blog that will update with how long until we come home.

I would say that the "honeymoon" of being here is definately over. It is still fun and a great experience but the excitement has worn off. Things that were amusing and culturally different at first are challenging and annoying now. It gets lonely from time to time as we don't have the community that we do back home. But, we are doing just fine so don't worry.

Before we left, I wrote a post on the things I will miss while in Norway. Now I am updating it to be the things I do miss in Norway.

1. My car.
2. Unlimited amounts of hot water - enough to shave both legs in one shower.
3. My garbage disposal-I hate having to throw food bits in the trash-it stinks.
4. My full size washer and dryer that fit twice as many clothes and are more efficient.
5. My long comfortable couch rather than a couch you cannot stretch out on.
6. My nice queen size bed rather than a twin and a smaller than double side by side.
7. My dog Hooligan - not only do I miss the companionship but also the great job she does cleaning up Katherine's messes
8. My neighborhood.
9. My back and front yard.
10. My grocery store - there are just so many things that are hard to find here.
11. My kitchen full of all my gadgets, tools, recipes and ingredients. I feel like I am in a cooking slump. If you have an easy recipe with simple non-processed (and thus hard to find in Norway) ingredients, could you please send it my way? I know I could look on the internet but honestly, I just have not made it a priority.
12. A house with more space though I do enjoy not having as much stuff.
13. Playgroup - I sure miss time with my mommy friends and Katherine misses all of her playmates.
14. Community group-what a great fellowship we have. I sure miss our time together.
15. Mother's Day Out - I sure could use a break a few times a week and Katherine could use the time with her friends.
16. Most of all I miss my family and friends - more than I thought I would. I took for granted how many wonderful friends I have that I can call to get together any day of the week. I have not found that here. I have a few friends but it takes time to get to know people at the depth of my friends at home. Some days it can get lonely.

A lot of these things are petty and I appreciate that I am able to enjoy them at home. I still have so much to be thankful for and somuch more than most people in the world.

I am so through with public transportation

Katherine and Daddy enjoying a ride on the bus.

Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that Oslo has a well organized, thorough and efficient public transportation system since we are without a car. We ride buses and subways daily and the tram and trains at least weekly. If we were in a city like our home town with a less complete and more difficult to navigate public transportation system, I would really be going crazy. I am however, sick of having to rely solely on public transportation.

I realize how much I love my car. Here is why.

1. I am able to strap Katherine into her carseat. Though she has been known to wiggle her arms out of the strap, she has yet to get herself out of her car seat. In Oslo, we wheel her stroller onto the bus, tram or subway and within seconds she is standing in her stroller, getting all arms and legs out of the straps. She then wants to sit in your lap or even worse, crawl all over the floor which was last cleaned before I was born!
2. If I am rushed and leave the house three minutes late, I might get lucky and make all the lights and get there on time or at the worst, I arrive at my destination three minutes late. In Oslo, if I leave our apartment three minutes late, it sets a chain of events in motion that can result in missing the first leg of a complicated transportation matrix that results in me being an entire 30 minutes late. This is especially bad on Sunday when most buses, including the one that takes us to church only run twice an hour.
3. Actual travel time. For me to get to church in Norway it takes 45 minutes. I walk, take a bus, walk to a different bus and wait, take another bus and walk to the building. A few times we have been able to ride with someone else to church and it took only 15 minutes. Somehow it has been rainy the last two Sundays which adds to the fun.
4. If it is raining, I am able to load Katherine and all baby accoutrements into the car in the comfort of my garage thus remaining dry. If I am lucky the rain stops before I reach my destination or I park in a covered parking garage. At worst, I have to walk, oh maybe 100 feet if I get a far parking space. In Oslo, I have to load Katherine and all of her accoutrements into the stroller. Then I try to fasten a rain cover that was designed for out small stroller onto our borrowed jogging stroller. Even when on as good as possible, it still allows Katherine's feet to get wet and that is if she does not play with it and lift it up over her head getting all of her wet! Then I walk 1/3 of a mile to the subway to get wherever I want to go. Arriving there, I will usually have to walk more in the rain. Most rainy days I just try to stay home. I can't wait until it gets cold and that brings more adventure.
5. Running errands on the way home from something is an advantage of a car. For example, if I go visit my friend Amy, I usually stop at the 75% off bookstore by her house on the way home. Or, when I go to my dad's office, I will stop at a lot of places since it is in a retail area. In Oslo, usually where I am headed is no where near the places I would want to run errands.
6. A car is a great storage area. In my trunk I have things that allow me to be prepared for many situations. I have a stroller, sling, picnic blanket, pool floaties, Katherine's nap mat, extra diapers, beach bag with both of our swimsuits, towels and sunscreen, toys, and who knows what else. It allows me to be spontaneous. Also, when running the above mentioned errands, I have a lot of space to put purchases. I am in and out of shops all day and I don't have to think about how large the packages are or how I will get them home. In Oslo, I have the basket of my stroller and whatever I can carry for storage. By the time I put Katherine's diapers, lunch, sippy cup, our coats and the rain cover, most of the basket is full. Think what a challenge going to the grocery store would be if you could not wheel the shopping cart right up to your SUV or the trunk of your car. Thus, I go to the grocery store almost every day! I hate that.
7. My car is private. I can talk on the phone, sing with the radio, pray or talk to Katherine with no one else paying attention to what I am doing. If Katherine is in a bad mood and crying, it bothers no one but me. On public transportation, well, it is public. If Katherine is in a mood (which public transportation puts her in) then I feel like I annoy a bus full of strangers.

I know that I am very lucky to have a car - heck our family has three cars and only two drivers. Most people in the world do not have a car and have to face challenges to get where they need to go. I am very lucky. Still, I am ready to have my car back.

Mr. Postman where are you?

I like to get mail. Every day at home I go to the mail box fully expecting to get a lot of good stuff. You know, cards, baby announcements, invitations, missionary letters. That may happen a little but of course I usually get bills, ads, boring stuff.

We have a mailbox here at our apartment. I check it everyday with the same anticipation as at home. WHY?!? Only about 3 people even have my address. Other than my birthday last week, why would anyone send a card or letter? With the internet I actually keep up with everyone on a daily or weekly basis so there is no need for cards or letters.

Amazingly, we still get bills, catalogues and ads. Of course they are in Norwegian so even the ads are not fun to look at. The bills I still have to pay. But the ads, they go straight in the trash which is located right by the mailbox. I need to take that habit home to keep the papers from piling up.

PS-If anyone does want to send any mail, it takes 6 days and costs $1.80 for a card with a few pages added (only thing I have received to reference).
Our address is:
25 Bogstadveien Leiel 404
0355 Oslo Norway

This post is sponsored by...

Emily, Kate and Penelope. Katherine has a very cute wardrobe here in Norway, assembled from all of her friends who let us have or borrow their outgrown winter clothes since buying winter clothes in July, in Texas is not easy. So, today she wore Kate's adorable brown velvet pants, Penelope's pink cashmere sweater and Emily's brown shoes. It was quite a nice ensemble.




Katherine helped me to do laundry today. It seems that even more than back home there is always laundry to be done. This is due to the fact that our washer is about 1/2 the size as back home and it takes twice as long. Katherine thinks it is fun to help me take the clothes out of the washer and then hand each item to me to put in the dryer. I hope that she continues to think chores are fun.

Today we went to the International Mom's and Toddler's playgroup. There were about 15-20 mom's and toddlers. Most were from the US or the UK. It was a lot of fun and meets every week so I look forward to adding it to our schedule. I met one mom, Wendy, who is from Houston. She is a Christian and really nice. She has 4 kids, three of whom are in school and the youngest is 10 months. Denise was also really nice. She has a daughter who is about to turn 2. I also met a British mom who happens to live in the building right across the street. In a city of 500,000, what are the odds that I would randomly meet someone who lives that close at a small meeting?

I was very glad to meet her and hope to ride with her in future weeks. Getting to the playgroup (and anywhere for that matter) was not that easy. It was at a church that is 6 km from the city center (about 3.5 miles). In Texas that is practically next door! In Norway, it takes 35 minutes to get there. I had to walk 5 minutes to the subway, go one stop, walk 2 minutes to the bus stop, wait 10 minutes, take a 13 minute bus ride, and walk up the hill to the church. It was a nice sunny, cool day so it was no big deal but if it is cold and/or rainy (which it will be) then it is not so fun. That is pretty much how it is to get anywhere.

You also have to plan ahead. There is a website where you type in the name of your stop and where you are going and it tells you the best connections and the times. It can change depending on when you are leaving. If you are even one minute late it can throw off your entire itinerary and set you back 15 to 30 minutes depending on how often the buses run.

Katherine waiting for the bus to arrive.

Rubber Ducky You're the One

You make bathtime so much fun. Or should I say, you make bathtime. . . possible!

Our tiny bathroom has a sink, toilet, washer, dryer and shower - no tub. Luckily we knew this before we arrived. Katherine is not very fond of showers so we borrowed an inflatable rubber ducky bathtub from JG to use while here. It barely fits in the shower, but it does the trick.

Getting Busy

I am sure that it is no surprise to any of you who know me well that life is getting busy in Norway already. We have been here two weeks and I have made friends and made commitments. I am so glad that I am outgoing or it would be really hard. I am also thankful for the internet and the ability it gave me to have a head start on getting involved in things before I arrived.

I made a few friends on the Internet. I met Hilde and then her son Nikolas on the Mothering.com message board. I emailed Jen who is a friend of a friend in Dallas. I found a Women's Club and a church on the Internet. I met Aska at the park.

The church has asked if I could help out with a welcome packet while I am here (always getting involved in ministry). The women's club needs someone to coordinate the moms and tots group. I told both that I could help. So, I have been in a new country and already have 2 commitments.

Being in a new place where I am in a small apartment with a toddler would be very lonely if I did it any other way. I feel like we are all getting pretty well adjusted. I think we are all three really enjoying not having a car and walking everywhere. I probably walk 2-5 miles a day while pushing a stroller or carrying Katherine. I brought work out clothes, but I don't think I will need to make any trips to the gym. Katherine is learning to be flexible and has even gotten good at naps on the go in her stroller. We will see how we enjoy this mode of living when winter comes.

Our daily adventure

Today Katherine and I took a bus (for the first time) into the center of town. I guess we technically live in the center when you look at the entire city but I mean more of the tourist and happening part of town. Our main objective was to go to the tourist information office to pick up brochures. Being a cold climate, the off season starts in a few weeks and opening hours are reduced. Some sights even close for the winter in September! I want to make sure we don't miss any of the key sights.

The National Museum and the "Tex Burger"

I got off the bus and started walking, not really knowing which direction I was heading but not wanting to look like a tourist. I walked past the National Museum and a lot of theaters. We found a park with statues, fountains and birds. Katherine loves birds, not like her Nana who hates them. If she was not in the stroller, she would have tried to catch one. We found the tourist office and had our questions answered. I ate lunch at a chinese restaurant. I had a chicken and rice dish, one egg roll and juice and it cost $30! Soooooo expensive in Olso. We also stopped in a toy store. They have a lot of really cool wooden toys but again, they are expensive. I am sure we will buy something for souvenirs but we will wait.

Bir and Wa - Birds and Water

We hopped back on the subway to head back to our area. It is only one stop but just far enough to not walk. Plus I wanted to look for some shops I had heard about near the subway station. I found a health food store with organic stuff. Again, so expensive. The only thing I bought was a $7 jar of applesauce for Katherine. That is a consistant part of her diet and the only other applesauce I had found was baby food and even more expensive because you buy the little jars. Then we found Child Planet. It is an indoor kids play area that you pay to go in. It is $5 for each person, regardless of age. You can also drop them off for daycare but that is $30 an hour and I can't think of anything I need to do that bad...though I did see a movie theater across the street. It was almost nap time so we did not stay but we will go back next week to play. I also found the grandaddy of grocery stores. It was like a light was shining down from heaven when I saw it. Not really but so far all the stores have been really small and loaded with unfamiliar products. This one was maybe 1/3 the size of a US grocery store, pretty large when you consider that most of the others in our area are only 6 aisles. It had a large produce and meat section and a lot of familiar items. They even had a Tex Mex section to satisfy any craving we may have.

Tex Mex section of the grocery store

We headed home with a full stroller of groceries. Katherine took a nap. I just checked our Fed Ex tracking and it has moved from "Clearance Delay" to "arrived at location". I called and that means they will deliver on Monday. Good news that I know when, bummer that it is not today and they don't deliver on Saturday. I am ready for Katherine to have her bed.

After dinner we went on our nightly walk to explore new sections of our neighborhood. We found another playground. Nana, we made sure to take pictures with the adults just for you. Here Katherine is struggling and mastering walking on the cargo net.

We also found an Apen Barnhage, which is an open kindergarten. It is a pretty cool concept where they (the state) sponsors staffed kindergartens for stay at home moms to come and bring their kids. You stay and play. So, your kids are able to play, moms interact and there are staff on hand to facilitate activities, set out coffee, tea and fruit and provide support for families. It cost $5 per time. The one we saw was for a particular neighborhood that we technically live just outside of but I am going to see if I can go anyway. It is a neighborhood where there are a lot of Americans.

We also went into Frogner Park. Sam had not been there before. We actually went into the sculpture section. The sun was setting so it was pretty. The sculptures are well done and some are really sweet relationships the only thing is that they are all nude. So you have a sweet picture of a mother and son - naked. Here are a few photos. Note that I was using my small camera, not my really nice one. I plan to go back for better photos.