How do you get men to donate to breast cancer?

You hang bras from the telephone wires of course! At least that is what we found here in Oslo. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month over here just as it is back home and downtown was wearing pink. For one weekend there were bras all over the place in the Aker Brygge area by the wharf. In the mall we also found a "bra-delier" (kind of like a chandelier).

I wonder if this year's fundraising campaign was targeting men?

In all seriousness, I think that October's breast cancer awareness focus is great. It is such a serious and devastating illness. I am lucky that I have not had any close relatives affected by it but we have had other cancer in our family and I have had friends moms and mom's friends who have been affected by breast cancer.

4 weeks

In 4 weeks I will be home!

Four weeks from today we will just be waking up from our first night back at home. Well, with jet lag, we actually will probably have been up for quite some time, but we will be home regardless. Four weeks is a short time and a long time. I am excited about coming home and seeing my friends, family, dog and home, especially since we will be arriving just in time for the holidays. Four weeks though is not that long when I think of all of the things I still want to do. I realize how short of a time it is when I can list off what we are doing every weekend between now and when we leave (Helsinki, Halloween carnival, Stockholm, Anita here, packing and shipping stuff). I want to make the most of my time here and the most of the relationships that I have made.

Today in an effort to cross some things off the list, Katherine and I went to the Munch Museum. The Munch Museum is solely paintings by Edward Munch, most famous for "The Scream". He is the hometown hero as he is one of the only Norwegian artists of note. The museum was small and free for the winter which was good because Katherine lasted just long enough for me to run through and look at the paintings. He is not really my style but good to check off the list. Here are a few paintings that were my favorites. Sorry they are not that great, I could not use a flash and did not have a tripod.

The Scream!

Across the street from the museum was the Botanical Gardens so we went back there for a picnic. Katherine was not really in the mood so we did not stay long. I tried again to get some cute pictures in the leaves. I want her to play in the leaves. This first photo was using the timer so I could throw leaves.


Back to the idea of being back in our own bed in four weeks, I am excited as our bed here is not too great. Plus, we are actually in two beds that are pushed up beside one another so it is not too cozy. Speaking of beds, I told Sam that for our 5th anniversary in December I would like a new bed. He bought ours when he moved into his house before we got married and it is fine but the mattress is getting a little lumpy. So, to all my blogging friends out there I ask "what kind of bed do you have and what do you like about it?" It is quite overwhelming when you see all the pillowtop, memory foam, sleep number options. How do you choose a bed when you can't really try it out and take it back? Hmmm. Let me know.

Our lovely sleeping arangement in Oslo.

A day in Norwegian News

Today there were two articles in the English version of the local newspaper that were interesting.

First, I found out that as of today it is recommended that we boil all water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth. Apparently there has been a parasite found in the water supply that causes stomach illness. Oh joy! Add that to my list of things to do.

Enjoying my new hobby of boiling water.

Second was an article about a debate over "play" in the local barnehages (Kindergartens). (I did not put the type of play because I don't want Internet searches to link to my blog). Take a look at the article. I guess I am glad now that we did not find a place for Katherine in a barnehage if this is the attitude towards this kind of thing. I would say let me know your thoughts but I have a feeling I know my readers pretty well and know your thoughts on this one. Feel free to comment though.

Snap!

Another video for your viewing pleasure.

One of Katherine's favorite books that we brought with us is "5 Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree". The other morning she was in our bed as I was trying to catch some last minutes of sleep. This book came with her to our bed. She started turning the pages and acting out some of the arts and saying some of the words. The cutest is when the crocodile goes "snap". Katherine actually says is more like "naaaaps".

We recorded the entire story but it took awhile so I just posted a sample of her acting out the story. At the end of the story the mama monkey scolds the monkeys for teasing the crocodile and Katherine shakes her finger and says, "no, no, no".

A new skill

Katherine has learned to walk backwards. That may not sound difficult to you and me but you should have seen her trying it out for the first few times. She still stumbles a bit but has it down. What is funny is that I was reading about that skill recently somewhere as a "milestone" - one of the lesser recorded and noted ones no doubt.

By the way, sorry for the random, non-Norway post. This is mainly for Nana and Grammy who love to see pictures and videos of Katherine. Hopefully the rest of you will enjoy it as well.

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.

Hiking at Sognsvann

Norwegians love the outdoors so today we decided to be Norwegian. I have been twice to Sognsvann lake without Sam so we decided that would be a good place to go. One thing I love about Oslo is that it is surrounded by beautiful nature. From our apartment we hopped on the t-bane and in 15 minutes were in the woods at a beautiful lake.

The entire city has such surroundings. There are signs all over the place guiding you to trails. The blue trails are for hiking and the red ones are for cross country skiing.

As you can see, it is quite a bit colder in Oslo than back home. Yes, Katherine is wearing her heavy coat and a new pair of gloves and hat. It was actually not that bad but after her hands turned blue last night we decided we needed better gloves. I wore my new Norwegian wool sweater and did not need a jacket. I guess I found out today that they are worth their price because they are very well made and very warm.
The lake was very calm and there was a beautiful reflection of the trees changing color. I love fall. Here there was a mix of evergreen trees and those that change so it was very pretty.

Katherine is in love with the ducks and it was a challenge to keep her from trying to go in the water after them.


Overall I think we walked about 6km. Katherine took a long nap in the stroller. We are tired and heading to bed earlier than usual.

Fall photo shoot

Last fall I took several hundred photos of Katherine in the pumpkin patch at the Arboretum. This year, no arboretum, no pumpkin patch, but it is actually fall and we have color in the trees at Frogner Park.
My goal tonight was to have a "Fall Photo Shoot". I put Katherine in my favorite fall outfit complete with tights and boots. It did not go well. My mistake was waiting until Sam got off work so we could all go to the park. That meant there was not enough light. I either had to take photos with a flash which ruined the color or on manual which meant I got a lot fo blurry ones. I did end up with a few decent pictures what with editing of color, etc. are cute.

I bought one pumpkin for way too much money 2 weeks ago and I wanted to have Katherine play with it in the pictures. She was not interested. She babbled on and on to me, I think about how she wanted me to take the pumpkin back.

I planned to go to an area where people had made piles of leaves so that she could jump in the leaves and throw them around but by the time we got there, her hands were literally blue. It was weird because it was not actually that cold.

Bogstadveien

Bogstadveien is the name of our street. It is the main shopping street in Oslo with a lot of chain stores and one of a kind boutiques. It is a fun place to live for a short time but if we were here for a long time I would want to live in a quieter area with more green space.

On Saturday afternoon the place is a madhouse. The seats at the cafes are full. The sidewalks are not navigable with a stroller for all the women loaded with shopping bags. There are cars zooming by trying to find a place to park. It is a happening place.
Sunday morning at 11 am. It is a ghost town. The stores are all closed. A few cafes are open but barely starting to have some customers. Every building and shop has at least 3 floors of apartments above them so we have not been able to figure out where all the people are. I guess either they got up really early to go hiking or they are still asleep after last night's festivities.

These photos are taken from the same street corner. One on Saturday afternoon, the other on Sunday morning. The building on the right is our apartment building. We live above the "WOW" store.

Norsk Teknik Museum

Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Norsk Teknik Museum. It is a science and engineering museum. There was a section that is like all science or children's museums with all kinds of interactive exhibits. Katherine was fascinated by the fish swimming on the ground. They were projected by a digital projector onto the ground. They would respond to her movement. When she was being fairly still they would swim close and when she moved it was like she scared them and they would move away quickly.
Here she is waiting to pounce on the fish as they approach.
Katherine and Daddy were playing with the nails and the magnetic box.
The museum had sections on lumber, oil, metal, energy, plastic, electricity, medicine, etc. In the section about metal there was an old foundry shop set up. It showed how they would use water power to run all the machines as they made cogs.

Katherine loved the transportation section. There were planes, trains, automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. Several of the models had sections cut away so you could see how it worked. Sam very carefully explained to her the workings of a steam engine. Katherine is so smart and was interested in the entire lecture.

Ahhh Fawff Eewe

What does that mean? "I love you" in Katherine speak.

I have been working on getting her to say that wonderful phrase for awhile. She can repeat each individual word, but not the entire phrase - until today. I was showing Daddy at the breakfast table what we had been working on and she surprised me by saying "ahh fawff eewe" all by herself. It was so sweet. Later when we were working on it, I started to say each word for her to repeat. When I said "I", she said "fawff", and then I said "you".

Who can know if she truly knows what it means but it is the sweetest phrase I have heard her utter.

Recreating it on video she did not say the entire phrase on her own but you can see how cute it is.

Let's talk about the weather

That is always what people think of when describing mundane or shallow conversation - talking about the weather. Seriously though, what is the weather like where you are?

Every morning when I get up I look at the Oslo weather on my computer. Today it was 30 degrees! That is Fahrenheit folk, below freezing. If I had seen 30 degrees Celsius (86 F), that would be more what I am used to for this time of year.

So, for community group that went to the lake last weekend and my friends whose blogs have pictures in tank tops and shorts, I am currently wearing a turtleneck and sweater. And that is inside my apartment. This morning I also had on my ski coat when I went to the grocery store.

What is the weather like where you are?

This is a Random Post

I have found a number of pictures that I have not posted yet so I thought I would do a random post to catch up on some of the fun things I have missed.

A few Sundays ago we went to a children's jazz concert at a trendy club in the Grunerlakka area called Bla. There were young kiddo swarming the place and a parking lot of strollers outside. It was quite an interesting concert. The duo was called Tu'ba. A guy was playing a tuba and a girl was singing with him. It was cool but nothing I would plan to buy to listen to.

Katherine enjoyed most of the concert sitting on her daddy's lap.
One night that I did not feel like cooking because it had been about my worst day with Katherine so far, a day full of meltdowns and no nap, I called Sam and asked him to pick up some Thai food. My order was for Pad Thai and a couple of spring rolls. I was taken aback a little to see the tail of a shrimp coming from my spring roll. It was actually quite tasty though very different.
One day while walking to the park I noticed a beer truck with a long hose going into a pub. I guess they were filling the tap like a gas truck would fill the pump. Sam said he was not so sure about beer coming from a rubber hose.
One sunny day Katherine was enthralled by her shadow. She started waving around to watch what it would do. You can tell we are far north as this picture was taken at about 2pm and the shadow is very long.
Katherine loves going to church and playing with her friends. Here she is with Aaron, Caleb and Anna. They also love to play with her. It is fun to see her with the big kids.

This week we went downtown for a Chinese culture festival I saw advertised. It was pretty lame and small but Katherine did enjoy painting on the mural. Notice the funny booties they made them wear.

Last Saturday it was really cold. I made Katherine wear her mittens. They only lasted a few minutes. I don't know what we will do when it is really cold and they are necessary.

When my parents came to visit Mom brought a portable DVD player so I would allow Katherine to watch her Baby Einstein DVD without playing with my computer. She loves it though she would still rather watch on mommy's computer because it is the big screen, has lots of buttons and usually means sitting in mommy's lap.

Almost Perfect

Friday was an almost perfect day for me and Katherine. It actually started last night when our family had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Katherine ate a lot of her macaroni and cheese and was very well behaved. She fell asleep without a fight and slept from a little after 9 until 6 without waking up at all. She still wakes up in the middle of the night most nights and it seems to be worse here. We go to her immediately because we have caught her trying to climb out of her crib. I think she knows how quick we will be right there.

It was a pretty day and we had no plans so I decided to go to Frogner Park to play on the playground. I called Hilde and she and Nikolas joined us at the park. After the park I made a huge grocery store run for the weekend. Katherine was in the backpack. She fell asleep on the way home. I have become good at getting her from my back to the bed without waking her up. There she took a two and a half hour nap. Amazing!

When she woke up, we had art time. I bought new markers after the non-washable marker incident but I still decided that coloring time was do be done in a diaper. For some reason Katherine loves to draw on herself more than the paper. She had a balloon from the Hard Rock and you can see in the video that she had a fun time with it.

Dinner was great. Katherine ate more than I have ever seen her eat, macaroni, green beans, fish, rice and applesauce. Then she went to bed at a reasonable hour without a fuss. She even used her potty three times today - both #1 and #2. The only thing that made the day not perfect is that she has learned that after you go, you dump the contents into the big toilet. That girl is fast and she hopped up and dumped the contents on the floor. it is still progress.

I am thankful

You know I have realized that I have been a bit of a grump lately and have complained about a lot. I have had a few posts where I have focused on things that I do not like about Norway or things I miss about home. You know, that is not a complete picture. I am actually having a great time and while there are some things that frustrate me, there are also a lot of things for which I am very thankful.

• Most importantly, Katherine and I were able to join Sam on this business trip. Usually spouses and kids don't get to come along on 3 month trips.


• This trip came at a really good time for our family. We just sold the rent house and were out from that responsability. We don't have a newborn. We aren't pregnant. Christy has a job that she can take with her (mom) rather than having to decide if she should quit a job.


• We have great friends that are staying in our house and taking care of our dog. It was perfect timing and we don't know what we would have done if they had not been able to stay there.


• We will be home for the holidays.


• Katherine is at a great age for this kind of adventure. She is old enough to have fun yet young enough that I can still carry her in a stroller or backpack. She may not remember it but she is having fun.


• Katherine is a great excuse for me to get out of the house and meet people. I don't know where I would have met people if not at the playground.


• While I do not have a lot of friends (compared to at home), I do have friends and I really like them.


• Hilde has been a great tour guide for some areas that I might not have found on my own and she has helped me to have a Norwegian connection and learn things I would not have known if all of my friends were Americans.


• We are in an apartment and not a hotel. This means we have a kitchen and seperate rooms as well as a washer and dryer. This was essential with a toddler.


• We found a great church before we even left home. They teach the Word and have been a great encouragement.


• The people we have met have been so giving - of their time and their stuff. I have had several people show me around so that I knew where to shop, go to the library, where the best kids places are etc. We have also had people let us have or borrow so many things - stroller, toys, warm clothes, rain boots, air mattresses and sheets for visitors, kitchen items. It has been a huge help.


• We have been able to travel while here. We have been to Copenhagen, the mountains and the fjords and we have trips to Stockholm and Helsinki booked.


• We went on a trip halfway across the world at a time in history where communication is easy. I can email, webcam, call on VOIP and blog at any time so I feel connected to those at home and hopefully they still feel connected to me.


• Almost all Norwegians speak English so there has been no problem with daily activities and business and it has also allowed us to make friends.


• Norway is very child friendly and very supportive of breastfeeding. This is a good thing since I am still nursing Katherine and was starting to feel a bit the freak of nature back home. Here I am so normal.


• Being away from our daily grind has helped us to consider our priorities, commitments and way of life. Not sure how that will change things when we return but we are thinking...

So, yes, it is hard at times. But you know what? We will be going home before we know it. I want to make sure that we take advantage of every opportunity and enjoy every day. I may not ever be here again.

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.

Family Fun Day Out

Sunday was a rainy day but we still felt the need to get out of the house and do something fun as a family. Our plan was to go to the Much Museum and then the Botanical Garden across the street. The Munch Museum has works by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. The best known one is “The Scream”. When we got there is was closed for the week while they were rearranging the exhibits. So that left us more time at the Botanical Garden.
It was dreary but did not actually rain that much. Katherine wore her new rain suit that I bought this week at a second hand shop. It is so cute. At that time we did not have any rain boots, which were severely needed because she liked to stomp in the puddles. What toddler doesn’t. Now we have some great rain boots - thanks Hilde!

The Botanical Garden is different than the Arboretum at home. It was mainly shrubs, trees and greenery, not flowers. It is already fall in Oslo though and the leaves are changing colors and falling to the ground so it was actually quite pretty. There was a great place by a waterfall. It would have taken some great pictures except for the fact that every little plant was labeled so all you see was the silver and white labels rather than the plants.