ゆりの世界

It's 9pm, I'm starring at a small B/W monitor and biting my nails.
Every small squeak, cracking or neighbour slamming doors make my heart jumps.

If there's a phobia for being scare of waking up a baby, I'm surely would be diagnose that.
Afterall, the rest of the night, which means my sleep and well being of the following day depends on this critical window between 9 and 10 pm when we waits for the little one to fall into deep sleep.

I'm really looking forward to moving to our new house where the closest neighbour lives 30-40 m and not 2 m away with a thin door in between from where the little alarm clock sleeps.

Well first of all we did use 2/3 of what I packed so it's not too bad.
The flights over to Sweden went pretty smoothly with 1hr transfer time in Oslo. Timing with sleep and feeds works perfectly and he was just cranky for 5mins on the second flight.

The return trip was as I fear. 1hr delay of the first flight (thanks SAS) caused a cranky wee guy, a wet nappy and 2 heavy poop nappies.
I didn't mind before but now I hate 'normal' people using handicap/change table toilets and block it for those who have to use it. With the increasing amount of people travelling with babies, they should add more toilets of those kind.
On the other hand, I love the change table in the toilet on board. It's small but it's clean and it does what you need. Yup the little one exploaded in the boarding queue and it leaked!!!


Security at Gardemoen is not as friendly as I expected. They were insisting on stripping the little one and the baby carrier out of me for a body search until I explained to them that with the delay of the last flight there's not much time for me to catch the connecting flight home.

What surprised me the most is all the helpful 'dads' along the way who offer to help us with lifting the luggage. Made our trip so much more easier.

Feeling a bit shaky about taking the little one on his first flight trip.
First of all, how can I fit all his stuff (and mine) in one suitcase??!!!
After having the packing sorted out, a bunch of questions poping up in my head.

• What if he going to be cranky through out the trip?
• Or do a big stinky poop just after we've boarded?
• Or decide that he doesn't like sitting in the baby carrier?

Another thing I'm horrified about is the security at Oslo airport on the way back. The thought of having to pick up the luggage and check it in again and then go through security again make me wish that I was an octopus!

According to the National Institute for Consumer Research (Sifo) will a child cost about 1 million NOK from birth until he/she turns 18.
So before deciding to have a baby, did you do your calculations?
Nor did I. But during pregnancy, with the baby shopping list we all start to think about what this additional family member will do to the household budget.

So what do we get for our 1 million NOK investment? 
Or maybe we should rather ask ourselves what our lives would be like if we don't have kids?

Things like 'happiness', 'fulfillness' and 'life quality' don't have a price tag to me. Therefore I find it such a bargain to get them for only half a million NOK.

There are a few freebies to expect when you are expecting.
They are in principle a pick of samples and full size merchandise of what that store have to offer moms. So it's  a win-win thing.
Now I'm stationed in Norway so the boxes below will only be avaible if you live in Norway.

Barnepakke from Rimi

(Picture not taken by me but the content was the same)

The box with best value inside comes from the supermarket chain Rimi. You can order it by going to their website fill in your details and they'll send you a pick-up card in your mailbox around due time.
This is only worth the trouble if you live in a city where there are Rimi supermarkets because that's where you'll be pickin it up.

Startbox from Libero Clubben

(Again picture 'borrowed' from the net but content was the same)
 
Join the Libero Club and they'll start by sending you a box with sample of their products. The diapers were very useful to start with.
When you are at a certain week of you pregnancy you will receive a pick up card which you will use to pick up your box at a Kiwi supermarket.

Apotekpakken
 
Fast, simple and pretty usefull content.
Just go here and fill in your details. Make sure you use an email address that you can access because that's where they'll send you a code to print out and bring to one of their drugstores to pick up the box.

Babybox

Same principle as Apotekpakke above but from a different chain of drugstore.
Go here and sell them your details.

The Finnish baby box
Now the only one thing that makes me wish I was a Finn.
The Finnish goverment gives every expecting mother a box you can call the king of all babyboxes.

The idea is to provide the mother to be with one year's supply of what her baby will need.
I wish the Norwegian goverment (with all their oil money) would be as generous as the Finn.
 

Having a baby is quite life changing and it's something I was prepared for....or so I thought.

Sleep
The thing that hit me hardest is change of sleeping pattern. It has more to do with the length than the lack of sleep.
Sure I wasn't expecting my usual 8 hours but going from that to 3 x 1,5 hrs per night was devastating!
The good news is, it's getting better. Now the little one will let me sleep 3-4 hours continuously if I behave.

Mornings 
I've become so much more efficient with my morning routine nowadays. Before I would need about 2 hours from getting up to be ready to go out. Now half an hour is enough and that's included breakfast!
I've started to love my morning now because my little one is so cheerful and full of smile in the morning. I mean, who can resist such a cutie?


Evenings
Evening have changed from me time to please-don't-cry-and-go-to-sleep-little-darling time. There's no point in turning the TV on, unless it's someting we can enjoy without the sound.
And when he's finally fall asleep, it's wise to go to bed too....who know when the wee alarm clock will sound next time.

Weekends
Goodbye to roadtrips, cinema, restaurant visits, nights out or sleeping half of the day. It's just an ordinary working day for the parent.
 
Meals
Next after sleep, this is the bit I miss the most - having a relaxing nice meal without the little one start screaming in the middle of it or right when we're about to start.
Or having a nice conversation that doesn't include feeding, puking, pee and poop.

But then again, as soon as my little angel smiles, everything is forgiven and forgotten.