January 4: We just recently got
back from our 12 day trip to the US, we spent the first few days
in NYC (Times Square), and the remainder at Grandmom's house in
Maryland. The trip back from the U.S. was a long one which
began by driving to the Metro at 10:30am on Thursday, taking the
metro to the train at Union Station D.C., taking the train to
Penn Station NYC, taking the Subway to JFK airport, taking the
first plane to Iceland, second plane to Norway, and then driving
home from the airport and arriving at our house on 2:15pm on
Friday. We are now fairly recuperated from these travels
and the jet-lag, we are especially proud of the kids for
handling all of the traveling so well! We hope everyone
had a nice holiday break! Here are some
pictures from the
last two weeks.
November 3: We had a nice
Halloween, Kristoffer was a devil and Annika was an angel (but
she called herself a princess), we didn't go "trick or
treating", but we received about 5 groups of kids, this was
twice as many as the last few years. Some
pictures from
Halloween and the last few days.
October 29:
It has been too long since our last posting, we don't know
really where to start...well, this morning we woke up to snow,
and a good amount of it (about 4 inches)! Marit has been
on a work trip in Italy (Rome) this week, so Scott is alone
watching the little ones. We have still been keeping busy
with work travel - Scott travelled to Finland (Helsinki) for a
week in the beginning of September (Marit and the kids came
along for a few days), Marit was in Belgium (Brussels) for a few
days in the end of September, and in the beginning of October
Marit travelled to Romania (Bucharest) for about a week (Scott
and the kids came along for a long weekend). In two weeks
Scott will be travelling to Luxembourg for a few days, and then
possibly directly from there to Saudi Arabia for a few
days...after this Marit has a planned trip back to Brussels and
then to Cologne, while Scott also has a trip to Brussels during
this same period! Pretty crazy, but it all seems to work
out, luckily the kids are so accommodating. Annika and
Kristoffer are doing great; Kristoffer has begun his pre-school
at the same school as Annika, so they both spend a lot of time
with each other, and are bonding so amazingly well. We
have added some pictures from the
last few months, also added a travel page
compiling all of our journeys over the past 10 years, and our
planned travel for the next few months.
June 17: We have been busy! We are
both working full time and travelling a lot: Scott has been on
work trips to Senegal, Tromsø, and
Israel, Marit to Italy and Poland. The whole family went to
Warsaw and when we got home we had visitors from the States for
a week (we had a blast with them!).
Here are pictures
from the last two months!
April
26: Scott and Marit had
babysitters for both kids and celebrated their 5 year
anniversary this weekend! It has been unseasonably hot this week
and Kristoffer and Marit has been to the beach almost every day.
A few pics from my cell phone camera
here.
April
20: It has been so nice and sunny
here lately and we have spent a lot of time outside this
weekend. Kristoffer is at such a cute age and loves crawling and
exploring outside. Annika and Marit went to the beach for a
little while today and then we had Scott's new colleague and
family over for a bbq. See pictures from this weekend
here.
April
5: Scott has begun his new
job at the Norwegian Institute for Air
Research this week,
and has been given his first assignment - in
Dakar, Senegal
where he will be assisting with establishing a new air quality
management system in the city.
He is in the process of getting a bunch of vaccinations, and
will probably be travelling there in the next few weeks.
March 23:
We spent the last 5 days at the cabin in Bondal over the Easter
holiday. There was so much snow, way over 2 meters (6
feet) in some areas. Everyone had lots of fun, Kristoffer
celebrated his 1 year birthday there on Wednesday...happy
birthday to our amazing little boy! We posted some
pictures and a
new video:
March 17: Happy St. Patrick's
day!. Marit got back from her work trip to Geneva on
Thursday, and Scott and the kids did fine for the entire 5 days
alone together. We have recently been busy redecorating
and reconfiguring the house so Kristoffer can finally have his
own room. We posted a few pictures and a
video:
March 6: Scott has accepted a new
job with the Norwegian Institute for Air
Research where he will
be working as a Research Scientist.Here are some
pictures from the last few weeks which included a trip to Bondal
(the cabin) during winter break. We also upload a video
here which shows
some of Krisoffers new tricks.
February 17:
We have had a busy week and weekend. Thursday we celebrated
Scott's birthday and Valentine's Day. Friday we visited Marit's
friend Elisabeth and her kids Ingvild and Ole Jakob. And
Yesterday we visited Martin and Annelie where we grilled hotdogs
on a bonfire! Here are some
pictures from the last week.
February 6:
We traveled to northern Norway (Finnmark region) last week, and
stayed in a small town called
Alta. Alta
is at 70 degrees latitude, way above the arctic circle, and has
an amazing landscape and particular culture. We took a few
pictures of our
journey.
January 24:
We have finally gotten around to uploading some pictures from
the last few months. Here are the
new pictures from Christmas.
November 6:
We had a great time in Kristiansand with Elisabeth, Leif Egil
and the kids! See pictures from our trip and some pictures from
Halloween here.
October 20:
Time has gone by soo fast: Kristoffer is 7 months old now, has
two teeth and eats lots of different solid foods! We have posted
some pictures of Kristoffer and
some random pictures from the
last month. Scott has successfully defended his Thesis,
and the document is now published in the University system
here.
September 17:
Kristoffer got his first tooth! He was up all night and this
morning we felt a sharp tooth, his bottom left front tooth. We
have been enjoying beautiful sunny weather lately. The fall
colors are beautiful now. We posted some
pictures from the
last month, including some pictures Mari
took when her and Lars babysat Annika.
August 20:
Annika started in a new group at school today (the 3 - 6 year
olds)! She will miss her old teachers but transferred with most
of her friends from the old group. Kristoffer has turned 5
months old and now weighs 13 lbs 2 oz! We have added a 5 month
picture of Kristoffer.
August 13:
Mari and Lars got married on Saturday! It was a beautiful
wedding. Kristoffer, Marit, and Scott traveled to Langesund for
the wedding while Annika stayed behind with Marit and Liv as
babysitters. See a couple of pictures from the
Wedding.
July 19:
Kristoffer is 4 months old today! We have updated the
page
with his growth charts and pictures next to his teddy bear.
July 18:
Laura was visiting us the past 5 days and we got to do a lot
together in that time, see pictures from her
visit.
July 10:
Kristoffer is 5 kg (11 lbs)!!! We have made a
page where we track his growth.
July 7:
We started adding some pictures from the
last few months, in which the work is still in progress.
We also built a book page where
Scott and Marit will list books they have been reading.
July 3:
It has been a extremely long time since we updated the website!
The biggest news since the last post is that Scott finished his
thesis two weeks ago, and finalized the delivery of the
published version today (download
PDF of thesis). Other than that all is well,
Kristoffer is getting big and his smiles are lovely, and Annika
is becoming a mature little girl. Over the next few days
we will post pictures of the family, as well as from Sheila's
visit in the end of May, and our long trip to Bondal last week.
April
12:
We are having beautiful weather and have been able to take walks
with Kristoffer in the stroller! Last weekend we played in the
snow before it all melted. Added some pictures to the
previous post.
April
8:
The last few days have been nice, we spent some time outside in
the warm weather while it lasted (it surprisingly snowed around
4 inches today!), as well as received some more visitors.
Added some
pictures as well as a
video.
April 3:
We had a really nice weekend. Saturday we received a quick
visit from Marit and Lars, and then Annika and Scott took a trip
in the woods to visit Martin. At Martin's cabin we got to
play with some hens, chase a cat, and sit by a fire - as well as
eat some goodies. On Sunday Uncle Lars and Aunt Mari
visited, it was so nice outside that we grilled some hotdogs and
spent a lot of time in the backyard (first time this year).
We posted some
pictures from this fun weekend.
March 30:
Everyone is finally home together! Marit and Kristoffer
came home yesterday from the hospital, Kristoffer was
progressing so well that there was no need for him to remain
there. Marit was at the hospital for 16 days, and
Kristoffer 10 days...so it is real nice for them to be home.
Everyone is doing great, and spring has arrived in Drøbak
- warm temperatures (10-14C), tulips budding, and
sunlight until after 8pm. Added a few
more
picturesto the previous posting.
March 27:
Posted 2 more
pictures of Kristoffer from today, these with his
eyes finally open. Also added two new
videos of the little guy from the past week.
Everyone is doing well!
March 26:
We celebrated Marit's birthday today at the Hospital Hotel.
It was really nice that Mari, Lars, Inger and Roger could visit.
Marit has been staying in the patient hotel that is a part of
the hospital since Wednesday, it is real comfy room and only a 5
minute walk to Kristoffer (she will be there until he is
released). Kristoffer is still in the intensive unit at
the Childrens Center at the main hospital in Oslo, and will be
there until he is over 2kg, this is very normal for a baby his
size and weight. He is doing great, he has never needed
any assistance, and he is just there to make sure he eats a lot
all of the time, which is going very well between him and Marit.
We all look forward to being home together (maybe 1 more week?),
and Annika especially is eager to be close to her baby brother.
Added some
pictures from the last few days.
March 20:
Kristoffer is doing perfect! 24 hours old and he is
allowed to take trips away from the intensive division up to
Mamma's room. The doctor checked him out today and she
said everything is great, we just have to concentrate on
fattening him up. He is a cute little guy, with close
resemblance to Annika. Added to few more
pictures.
March 19:WELCOME TO THE WORLD KRISTOFFER!!!!!! The little
guy was born at 11:48 this morning at Ullevål
hospital in Oslo. He is 1.7 kg (3.7 pounds) and 41
cm (16 inches) - tiny, but super strong! He is eating well
and doesn't need any assistance. Mom is doing well also -
another super strong one. Took a few
pictures, mostly with my phone. We love our new
little boy!
February 28:
Scott has upload some pictures to the photography page.
He has over 200 pictures in this section now!
February 27:
We took a quick trip to Bondal last week, it was cold with a lot
of snow, and we all had fun playing in the white stuff in the
mountains. We posted some pictures, as well
as some
videos.
February 14:
Happy birthday Scott and Sheila!! Happy Valentine's Day
everyone! We had a nice celebration at home today and we will
celebrate Scott some more in Bondal this weekend.
February 13:
Scott and another student have started up a new workgroup at the
university, the
Deep Ecology Workgroup.
Annika is doing great, her vocabulary and learning skills are
growing at a amazing pace. We uploaded a new video of her
counting, from now on all of our videos will be on our
YouTube account,
but older videos are still available here.
February 9:
It has still been snowing a lot here, and temperatures have
still been cold. Annika has been enjoying the snow, we are
still transporting her to and from school in her sled. She can
now count to 12 repeatedly, and she fully recognizes all of the
numbers, but she really only understands 1 and 2. She also
got two molar teeth recently, with her last two to go. We have
posted some pictures from the
last two weeks, as well as some new videos.
January 25:
We finally got our first real snow! The last major snow storm
was in February 2006! It got cold enough on Saturday to
snow a foot or so, and it has stuck. We have had lots of
precipitation this fall/winter, but it has always been mostly
above 0C...now it is cold, averaging around a high of -8C (17F)
with lows of -13C (7F). Its refreshing to have so much
snow and cold around. Yesterday we picked up Annika from
barnehage and took her all the way home in her sled, she thought
that was the best. We added a video from when
we were in the U.S., and some pictures from the
last two weeks.
January 12:
It has been a while since our last post, we hope everyone is
doing well and had a joyful holiday season with family and loved
ones. We were visiting the Randall family in the USA from
December 15th - 29th. We had a great time, and all three
of us especially miss Granddad and Sheila. Since we got
back we have been settling in and getting back into the normal
groove. We uploaded lots of pictures from the
last few weeks!
December 9:
Scott has updated the photography album
page, and added almost all of our interesting pictures from the
last few years. Scott has also drastically changed his
thesis over the past few days, the new thesis, as well as the
old one, can be found in the school page.
It has been crazy warm in Oslo this Fall/Winter, with no
measurable snow in the city thus far, with temperatures always
hovering above freezing. Its a real concern here because
November was one of the warmest on record, and one of the
wettest because it has also been raining almost every day.
Nowadays the sun rises after 9:00 and sets at 3:00, but when its
raining, or even cloudy, there is very little light to speak of.
December 8:
Last week we were in Cologne, Germany for a long weekend.
We had a great time, and we all had fun at the various Christmas
Markets. Annika thoroughly enjoyed traveling on all of the
busses, trains, and airplanes. We have uploaded a bunch of pictures from
this trip and from the last 2 weeks.
November 19:
We had an ultrasound this week and everything seems just fine!
Our weekend was busy. Friday night we babysat Benjamin and Malin
at Liv and Morten's house. Annika had a lot of fun with Benjamin
and the baby. Last night Scott and Annika were home alone while
Marit attended a work dinner. Today Annika enjoyed a walk in the
woods and played at the playground in the beautiful sunny
weather. We have added some pictures from the
last week,
and two new videos of Annika
singing.
November 9:
We have added a few new pictures,
and one new video. We
also found a
live webcam in our neighborhood that gives a different view of
the fjord, you can actually see ships go by, and the lights of
Drøbak at night.
November 4:
We have had some beautiful sunsets the last few nights, added
some of these scenic pictures to the
last post. We also added two new
videos. We
added some new music samples also to the mp3 page.
November 1:
We had a great Halloween last night. We carved pumpkins
with Marit and Lars, and even got a few trick-or-treaters at the
door! Amazingly, it also snowed a few inches last night,
and it is still around because it is very cold. Yesterday
during the day, Scott substituted for a missing teacher at the
barnehage, he had a great time, and Annika handeled it well.
This evening we had international day at the barnehage, which
included a USA exhibit to represent Annika...we displayed an
american flag, macaroni & cheese, a carved pumpkin,
pumpkin pie, a dollar bill, a sand dollar, hula skirt, and a NY
magnet. Check out the
pictures from the last few days. Don't forget to
check out the webcam , it has
been moved to the study with a nice view of the yard..
October 22:
We had a nice time with Elisabeth, Leif Egil, and Ingvild
yesterday...we visited the Norwegian Technical Museum and then
ate dinner at their house. Tonight we had a nice dinner
with Uncle Lars and Mari. We have added a few
pictures from the weekend, and the past week, we have
more storage on the website, so the picture are a little larger
now. Also, our webcam is up an
running again, there is a permanent link in the navigation pane
listed as Randallcam.
October 17:
We added a few pictures to the
October 15th post, we also added a video. We
have been teaching Annika some english recently, her favorite
words are "money" and "please", which she sometimes says in that
order. We got a nice visit from Marit and Lars last night,
we got to hear all about their lovely wedding and honeymoon in
the U.S.
October 15:
We have had a nice weekend which included a visit from Inger and
Roger yesterday, and Bjørn and Anne today. Annika has been
very positive and happy recently, her short "no" phase suddenly
turned back to all "yes". She has also been saying new
words almost every day, and having fun making sentences.
The weather has also suddenly shifted to being cold, we fired up
our wood stove for the first time of the season last night. We added
some pictures
from the last week.
October 5:
It has been almost 6 weeks since we have last updated the
website! Marit has been busy traveling and Scott has been
sick for the last 4+ weeks. Everyone is doing well though,
Annika is especially having fun at barnehage. We added
some pictures
from the last few weeks.
August
16:
Annika started pre-school (barnehage) today! She had a
blast, and fit right in. We love the school she is going
to, the teachers are great, and all of the other kids are so
kind. Now that Annika has started barnehage, Scott is back
to the books on his thesis. He is very excited about
working on his thesis, and he has to study hard to be done
before xmas. We added
some pictures
from the last few weeks.
July 26:
We had a great time at the cabin in Bondal the past 5 days, the
weather was beautiful, and abnormally hot. Marit, Scott,
Annika, and Roger went on a two hour hike on Saturday and a 4+
hour hike to the top of Bonsnås on Monday. Annika had a
great time hanging out with the grandparents and spending time
outside around the cabin as well as at the lake. We added
some pictures
from the trip.
July 20:
Summer is absolutely wonderful in Drøbak!!!
We have been having a lot of fun in the sun, and taking it easy.
We have also been traveling around a little as well as
entertaining some visitors (including Sheila for over a week).
There is too much to write about, so just let the pictures
do the explaining.
June 19:
On Saturday we took a hiking trip in the woods around Seiersten
Skanse (an old fort in Drøbak).
We went on a nice boat trip with Marit and Lars yesterday.
We docked the boat on a small island and bbq'd, Scott did some
fishing from the island and caught two small
Atlantic Mackerel
and a
Grey Gunard.
We kept the two Mackerel, this was a first for Scott as he
normally just releases them back, and we cleaned and gutted the
fish for the first time also, they now just wait in the freezer
for Marit to eat...Mackerel is her favorite fish to eat.
Marit is leaving for a work conference in Frankfurt, Germany
tomorrow, so Scott will be alone with Annika for a few days.
We added some new pictures.
June 15:
Liv gave birth to a baby girl at 2:05
this morning! The baby weighs 3558 grams and is 51cm long.
We forgot to mention in the previous post that last Wednesday we
went to a parent/child meeting at Annika's pre-school (barnehagen).
Annika will be in the youngest group with 8 other nice children,
and taught by 3 wonderful women. We all had a great time
at the barnehage and are excited for Annika to start in August.
We also forgot to mention that two weeks ago we went to our
first national soccer game - Norway vs. South Korea, it ended in
a tie, but was fun none-the-less. We have finally posted
some
pictures of the last two weeks.
June 14:
We have been super busy the last two weeks, so busy we haven't
had any time to update the website. The temperature has
been so warm and there is so much daylight (sunrise is at 3:45 and sunset is
10:45, although there is still some light the whole night
through), we have been fully taking advantage of the beautiful
weather. Today we took a quick trip to Sweden and visited
the small towns of Töckfors and
Årjäng. Yesterday we grilled out at Liv and Mortens house,
and Annika and Benjamin had a blast together as always, Benjamin
taught Annika a few words that she has been repeating ever since
yesterday ("buss" and "aesj") -
Annika has been saying a lot of new words the last week. We are
now just waiting for Liv to give birth, it will most likely be
tomorrow. Earlier yesterday morning Scott caught a good
sized mackerel in the fjord at Drøbak, he ended up throwing it
back which upset Marit. Saturday night we went back to our
old neighborhood in Sandvika for a party at Mari and Thomas's
house, Lars babysat Annika at Inger and Rogers house where
everything went well. Friday night we got a nice visit
from Elisabeth, Leif Egil and Ingvild; we grilled out friday
night, we played Yatzee and they stayed the night - Marit made
some yummy American styled pancakes for breakfast Saturday
morning where we all ate outside in the yard. The
beginning of last week we were busy cleaning and staining our
back terrace, this was a chore, but it looks so much nicer.
The end of last week we took a few days to paint our bathroom,
the yellow-brown color is now replaced with a clean looking
egg-shell white. Last weekend we grilled out with Marit
and Lars, where Annika entertained us as always. We are
now looking forward to going to Bondal next weekend, and then
after that Sheila visits! We hope to post some new
pictures before tomorrow.
May 28:
The weather has gotten nicer the past few days, so we have been
spending a lot more time outside, and taking a lot more
pictures.
We spent a lot of time along the fjord on Friday and Saturday,
and we got a nice visit from Marit and Lars yesterday.
Today, Inger and Roger visited, and Annika made a friend at a
playground in the neighborhood next to ours (see
video). Annika's vocabulary is expanding, but
she can only consistently repeat 5 or so words, while she has
said over 20 different words in English and Norwegian...she
loves to chit-chat though, normally talking non-stop for the
first hour after she wakes up - discussing things, as well as
telling elaborate stories in her own language (see
video).
May 23:Marit was
feeling good enough to go back to work yesterday, and she was
looking forward to getting back in the regular groove of things.
Scott and Annika are also back in the normal groove, we are
taking a lot of walks and spending a lot of time outside, even
though it has been rainy...Annika really enjoys all of the
numerous neighborhood sandboxes...and maybe we will even try and
go fishing in the fjord tomorrow. Also, unfortunately we had to
cancel our trip to The Hague earlier this month, and Marit also
has an opportunity to go to Frankfurt and/or Budapest, but we do
not think either of those trips will work out. We have
taken some
pictures over the last few days.
May 17:Gratulerer med
dagen!!! Today is Norway's national independence day, and
a very special day for small and big alike. We had a nice
time with Marit and Lars this morning and a nice dinner with Liv,
Morten, Benjamin, Sara, and Espen. Marit still gets tired
easily, but she was still able to enjoy the day. Annika
had a great time, and she especially enjoyed wearing her bunad,
and playing with Benjamin. We took some
pictures today, and some from the last few days also.
May 9:
The last week has been rough, but Marit is feeling a bit better.
We have just been taking it easy everyday outside in the garden
in the amazingly beautiful weather. It has been around 22C
every day since last Thursday, and it really feels hot in the
sun. We have been using the bbq alot, cooking a lot of
chicken, steak, and kebabs. It has been tiring on Scott
taking care of both Annika and Marit, but we have managed to
have some fun also, see some pictures from the
last two weeks.
April 30:
Not too much happening this past week, surprisingly we didn't
take any pictures! Last weekend was exciting though, Scott
went fishing on a boat in the Oslofjord with Lars Y. They
caught 5 cod near Oscarsborg, these fine specimens were eaten
the next night by Marit, Annika, Inger and Roger. We hope
to grill out on our new grill today with Marit B. and Lars Y.,
weather is cloudy, but it is getting warmer, and a lot more
light (gets totally dark after 10pm now, but sunset is
officially around 9:15pm). We have added a
MP3
page for visitors to sample various Scandinavian
music - we hope to add a new track about every week.
April 21:
Annika has been busy exploring the neighborhood this week, we
take a walk in the late morning for about 30 minutes, and then
in the afternoon for about an hour or more. Her stamina at
walking for long distances (and occasionally running) is
amazing, she just doesn't quit, and rarely wants to go back
inside. She has been saying a lot of new words lately like
"baby" and "ut" (out), and understands Mamma and Pappa extremely
well, she answers most of our questions accurately by nodding or
shaking her head. She now has 14 teeth, with number 15
poking through! We have added some pictures from the
last week.
April 17:
We had a great Easter vacation. Scott ended up joining the
family in Bondal on Friday, which was the most beautiful day,
with the first hints of spring. Scott, Marit, and Annika went
skiing together on Saturday, and had a blast. We ate a
yummy Easter dinner on Saturday night, and ended the evening
with a competitive game of Passport (men vs. women). Added some
pictures from the vacation week.
April 13:
Scott has created a
blog to list,
share, and store interesting quotes he comes across while
researching for his thesis.
April 12:
Annika and Marit are at the cabin in Bondal, while Scott has
stayed behind to do some much needed studying. While
reading about Gandhi and passive resistance is enlightening, he
misses his girls and wishes he was with them at the cabin.
It is finally supposed to get warm in Oslo by the end of the
week, the temperature has not gotten above ~5C for the last few
months, the average high in Drøbak since
we moved here has probably been about 1C, so there has been
constant snow cover. We finanly got a glimpse of the
corner of our yard a few days ago where some of the snow has
melted, although we still have a large amount of snow in the
center of the yard. We have taken a couple of
pictures the last few days.
April 7:
We have had a nice week. Scott covered a
AmCham
presentation/social on Wednesday at Summit 21 (lounge on top of
the Radisson SAS Hotel), which was a popular hang out for the
guests staying there during our wedding. Last night we
went to a nice dinner at Marit B and Lars Y's house, they just
have so much fun with Annika, so she got to stay up a little
late and play with them. We have taken a couple of
pictures the last few days.
April 2:
We got a nice visit from Liv and Benjamin today. Annika and
Benjamin had a lot of fun, they chased each other around most of
the time, which both of them thoroughly enjoyed. They also
watched a Baby Einstein video, and played with blocks. We
all ate yummy lasagne together that Marit baked. Next
weekend is Benjamin's 2nd birthday party, so they will be sure
to have fun together again in a few days. Added some
pictures from the last few days, and a
video of them chasing each other around the house.
March
31:
Marit saw a badger (grevling) in our backyard early this
morning! She was not able to take a picture of it, but
here is a stock picture of a
North American badger. We are continuing to see the four
resident deer walking through our side and back yard, as well as
all sorts of birds that are attracted to our neighbors bird
feeders...all of these animals really excite Annika, and she
will regularly stand and look out the door window and wait for
something to come by. I added some pictures of the deer we
saw in our side yard last weekend
here.
March
30:
Marit is home! Scott and Annika had a great 4 days alone
together, but were real happy when Marit came home Wednesday
night. Yesterday Annika and Scott took a trip to the Drøbak
aquarium, and Tuesday we got a nice visit from Marit B. and Lars
Y. We added some new pictures which
includes pictures from Marit's trip to England. We also forgot to mention that Annika was accepted to the
Kindergarten in our neighborhood (2 minute walk from the house),
this school was our number one choice, and it will be an
excellent place for Annika to attend. The kindergarten has
some great philosophies regarding nature, art, music, cultural
differences, and language...all which we think will be perfect
for Annika.
March
28:
Everything is going well with Annika and Pappa, we miss Mamma a
lot, but things are going smooth. Yesterday we went to
Inger and Rogers, and today we plan on doing some shopping in
town. We took some pictures.
March
26:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIT!!!! We celebrated Marit's birthday
yesterday in Drøbak because
she left for England this morning on a business trip. We
had a great birthday celebration, and Marit got some neat gifts
from Inger and Roger, Sheila, and Scott. Scott and Annika
are going to miss Marit the next few days, so Scott will be
updating the website with pictures everyday
until Marit comes home.
March
24:
Annika and Mamma had a lot of fun today walking around the
neighborhood and walking on the back deck, see new
videos. We are getting ready to celebrate
Marit's birthday tomorrow, we will be eating at Skipperstuen in
Drøbak, and coming back to our house
to open presents and eat a chocolate cake from Pascals.
March
21:
We had fun celebrating Lars's 30th birthday last night! We
had a nice time with Marit's family, and Annika got to show off
her dance moves to her favorite Madonna song. We took a
few
pictures from last night.
March
17:
Happy St. Patricks Day! We took a few
pictures of Annika reading a St. Pats Day card from
grandmom, while also playing with the tiny shamrocks we
decorated with.
Tonight we are making a Irish corned beef dish for dinner, and
maybe even some green beer?
March
15:
Everything has been going well here. Scott has been busy
with AmCham and school, tomorrow Scott is attending the Annual
General Meeting for AmCham. Marit is enjoying her job, and
she is especially happy with the new short commute. Annika
is having fun being silly as always, we think she is really
comfortable in our new place...it will be nicer when it gets
warmer and the snow melts, then we will be able to enjoy the
back yard, go on walks, and hang out at the beach in Drøbak.
We have added some new pictures
of our silly one.
March
6:
There were two deer in our neighbors yard this afternoon, and
they were easily spotted from our living room window. Our
neighbor said they come almost every morning to eat the leftover
bird feed (they come early though, around 6am). They were
very pretty, and we were able to take a few pictures of them.
We added these pictures and others of Annika to a new
pictures page.
March
3:
Back by popular demand is a new video of Annika
dancing to Madonna (this is a part that we cut out of the
original version). We visited a kindergarten today, and
are visiting another two next week. There is lots of snow
here, the most we have had all winter. We hope to soon
post some pictures of our new house.
February 27:
We had a nice weekend which included a visit from Liv, Morten,
and Benjamin, as well as Inger and Roger. Annika and
Benjamin had fun together...we added a new photogallery with
some
pictures of them playing. We also added a funny
new video of Annika
dancing to Madonna this morning in her PJ's (while also trying
to eat a slice of bread).
February 23:
We now have DSL and a phone line at our new house! We are
also mostly finished with setting up annika's room, our bedroom,
the living room, kitchen, and the study/guest room. We
still have a lot of work to do in the bathroom. We added a
video of annika
eating cheese and enjoying the Swiss music at Restaurant
Edelweiss in Geneva last week.
February 19:
We have not updated the website in a while because we have moved
to our new house, and currently we do not have an internet
connection. Also, we just got back from a trip to Geneva,
Switzerland. Marit had a meeting there, and Scott and
Annika tagged along. We had a great time, and Scott
enjoyed celebrating his birthday in Geneva. See
pictures from the
trip.
January 22:
We have added a webcamera to our
website. Most of the time the camera will be pointed
outside to view the beautiful Norwegian landscape, but we will
also point it inside to highlight Annika and her sillyness.
January 20:
There is a blizzard here in Oslo, with over 2.5 feet of snow
accumulated over the last few days, and it is expected to
continue for at least one more day (the high today was -6C)!
We have already moved about 7 carloads to our new place, as well
as painted Annika's room (used to be a boys room with a space
theme). We will be totally moved out by the end of next
week. Added captions to the christmas
photogallery.
January 11:
We have been super busy, thus the 3 week lapse in updating the
website. We got the keys to our new house yesterday!
We are slowly moving in with a car load every few days. We
had an excellent time with Sheila over the holidays; Annika and
Grandmom had a great time with eachother, and Annika misses her
dearly after she left last Monday. We took lots of
pictures over the holidays, and have grouped them into one
photogallery
consisting of Christmas, Annikas first birthday, and New Years.
December 21:
We are getting very excited about Sheila arriving on Friday!
We plan to celebrate a Norwegian Christmas on Saturday, and then
head to the mountains on Tuesday. Recently we have being
doing a lot of holiday things: baking lots of cookies, going to
christmas parties, and decorating the house. Annika is
having a lot of fun with all of the various decorations...she
points and then says "huh". See some
pictures from the
last few days.
December 11:
We had a great time in Germany! We spent 5 days in the
city of Cologne (Køln) where we stayed at an excellent hotel on
the eastern bank of the Rhine River. We had so much fun
touring the city and visiting all of the Christmas Markets,
including sampling gluwein. Scott fulfilled his mission of
eating German sausage (bratwurst) and drinking German beer (kølsch)
for almost every meal except for breakfast. Marit got to
go to Starbucks, and she also thoroughly enjoyed visiting the
chocolate factory. We took a lot of
pictures.
December 6:
We made gingerbread cookies on Saturday night, they taste real
good, but some look a little weird, see
pictures.
We bought a Christmas tree on Sunday, we decided to buy a live
potted xmas tree that we can then plant in the yard of our new
house in the spring! We will decorate the tree next
weekend, but we already put up xmas lights around the house.
December 2:
We had Leif Egil, Elisabeth, and Ingvild over for dinner last
night. Annika and Ingvild got to play for a little bit
together, Ingvild is quickly catching up to Annikas play level.
This weekend we will be going to some christmas bizarres, and
looking for a christmas tree. Yesterday was the first day
of the christmas calender, Marit got a bag of coffee, and today
Scott got a travel Yatzee kit. We started a new
week 49 picture
page.
November 28:
It finally snowed today! It has been so gray and damp the
past few weeks, the snow was a welcomed relief. The snow
makes the landscape so much brighter from the suns reflection,
and overall so much quieter. Annika and Pappa went on a
long stroll today in the fresh snow, added some
pictures.
November 27:
We started getting excited about Christmas since it is the first
Sunday in advent. Here are a few attempts at a
Christmas card picture
of Annika.
November 24:
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at our house this evening.
We made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey,
and gravy, while Inger brought self-picked tyttebær (similar to
cranberry). And of course we had pumpkin pie for dessert.
Annika got to try turkey, and was very interested in the pumpkin
pie, see pictures.
November 22:
We are preparing for hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house.
We have bought the turkey, and after weeks of searching for
canned pumpkin, Scott's friend Jason pulled through by giving us
one of the cans being used for the American Chamber of Commerce
Thanksgiving dinner, they are making 15 pumpkin pies (well now
only 14)! We have added two more pictures of Annika to week 47 pictures.
November 19:
Annika and Marit are enjoying a four day weekend! Marit cut
Annika's bangs, and it turned out a little uneven! have added
some week 47 pictures
of Annika.
November 13:
We had a nice relaxing weekend. Today was Norwegian
Fathers day, and Scott was treated to a nice breakfast and
dinner, as well as a new tool box. We have added some
really cute week 47 pictures
of Annika, as well as a new video
of her being silly.
November 9:
Scott is done with his last exam! His last paper discussed
globalization and related consumption theories, all of his
papers can be found in the school page.
November 7:
Besides the one snowstorm in October, it has been unusually warm
in Oslo this Fall, and it is heading to be the
warmest Fall in 150 years
in Oslo. Last night it only got down to 11C, while being
very warm in the sun today.
Scott has been working on a paper the last week, he will finally
be done tomorrow. We added a new
week 46 pictures.
November 2:
All is going well here, we are making travel plans for a trip to
Germany in a few weeks. Annika is having fun as usual, we
have added some pictures to the end of week 45 pictures.
October 30:
We celebrated Halloween today. We carved a pumpkin and
dressed up Annika in a cute pumpkin outfit we got from Sheila.
We then went "trick or treating" at Uncle Lars and Mari's house.
See week 45 pictures.
October 28:
We bought an apartment! It is the bottom half of a house (tomannsbolig)
in Drøbak. We are very happy because the apartment
has three bedrooms, and has a nice yard with a large terrace
with a view of the oslo fjord. The village of Drøbak is a
really nice small town right on the water with lots of neat
shops and restaurants. It is also really close to Marit's
work in Ås. You can view the apartment
here, and more
about the village of Drøbak
here, including a
guided visual tour of the town
here
(both in english).
October 27:
It has snowed a bunch in Oslo the past two days, see a
picture of the
snow.
October 24:
Scott delivered a
term paper this
morning, now he just has one more to go that is due in two
weeks. It is getting darker during the day here in Oslo,
and snow will arrive in a couple of days.
October 22:
Last Monday we went to Annika's 9 month check up, even though she is
now almost 10 months old. It is getting more and more difficult
getting pictures of her laying down! She now measures 27 inches
and weighs 19 lbs and she has two more teeth! We have added a
picture of her
next to Sleepy bear. Mamma let Annika eat broccoli herself, see
pictures here.
October 19:
Scott delivered his new
Thesis Proposal
today, he is very excited about working on this topic.
Annika helped me update the website today, here is a
picture of her,
and here is what she has to say: "
<<<<<<<<< GRG <VCH
B<VZXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ". I guess she hit the Caps Lock key,
I had to stop her message after she tried to delete half of the
page.
October 16:
We spent some time in Drøbak yesterday, and today Annika and
Mamma are going to a baby theatre performance, while Pappa tries
to study. This morning it was very warm in the house due
to the bright morning sun, so Annika got to run around and
explore in her birthday suit, we have added a bunch of pictures
to the end of the week 43
picture gallery.
October 14:
Annika and Pappa are having fun together today, Annika has been
very vocal with "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da", and had fun playing
with her shadow, started a new week 43
picture gallery.
October 10:
Pappa and Annika are having a nice relaxing day today, Annika is
being a super-explorer today, added two pictures to the end of
week 42
pictures of her
standing.
October 9:We are back from
our 4 day trip to Ustaoset. Ustaoset is a village about 4
hours drive from Oslo; the village is located at the base of the
Hallingskarvet mountain range. We had a nice cabin that
looked up to Hallingskarvet. On Friday, Scott hiked up to
Hallingskarvet to collect research for his Masters Thesis.
We took some neat pictures of the
area.
October 4:We had a great
time over the weekend in Bondal with Elisabeth, Leif Egil, and
their 6 month old daughter Ingvild,
pictures. The
weather was amazing, and we spent a lot of time outdoors and on
the lake. Scott and Leif Egil fished from the canoe and
caught a few lake trout! Yesterday Annika had a nice
afternoon with Mari, we thank her for watching Annika while
Scott was in class! Tonight we look forward to Inger's
60th birthday party.
September 30:
Annika and Pappa are getting ready for Bondal today.
Annika is letting Pappa get a lot done, she is very content with
reading her books while Pappa packs (see
picture). On wednesday Annkia had her first
babysitting experience for a few hours...it was with Cecilie and
her 9 month old son Martin (they are in barselgruppen with Marit
& Annika). It sounds like Annika had a lot of fun, and we are
very grateful to Cecilie for helping us out.
September 26:
Annika and Pappa had a lot of fun today. This morning
Annika woke up super early (6:45), so we drove Marit to the
train station. When we got back home, Annika went straight
to her toy drawer and started taking out the toys she wanted to
play with. She also likes taking tupperware out of the
bottom-most kitchen drawer, thats good that she is learning to
like tupperware, because Scott hates putting leftovers away in
tupperware, that can be Annika's future chore. Later in
the day Pappa and Annika went to the University and bought a
book at the bookstore, as well as loaned some books from the
library.
September 25:
Today we visited Marit's Grandfathers' farm in Ringerike, it is
a neat place by a river that is 45 minutes from Oslo.
It was a beautiful warm fall day yesterday, so we took a stroll
around Semsvannet, pictures.
Scott got some fishing in, but didn't catch anything. Last
week he caught a huge pike (gjedde) there, was about 20 inches
(50cm)! We look forward to going to Bondal next weekend,
and Ustaoset the following weekend after that.
September 21:
We taught Annika how to "high five", and she has mastered it
today, see video. We
are still trying to teach her how to wave goodbye, she has done
it a few times, but it could have just been accidental.
September 20:
Scott and Annika had a good day together yesterday, we spent
some time outside in the beautiful warm fall weather, see
pictures.
September 17:
It was really cold out last night (30'sF) so we had all of the
windows closed in the house; when we woke up, the morning sun
hade made the house very warm. See pictures from
Annika running around the house naked.
September 14:
Annika stood up on her own for the first time today!
This morning Scott found her climbing up the stereos subwoofer,
and then she stood up there holding onto it for about 15
seconds. We have added two
pictures of this
event.
September 13:
Norway's
national election
was last night, and a coalition led by the Labour Party (Ap)
with the Socialist Left (SV) and the Center Party (Sp) now
rules, with Jens Stoltenberg (Labour Party) as the Prime
Minister taking over for Kjell Magne Bondavik (Sfp). This
new liberal government should bring about many changes in
domestic and foreign policy.
September 12: Today was Marit's first day back at work, she
had a great day and is happy to be back. Annika and Pappa
also had a great day together, they played around the house and
then took a long stroll to Sandvika. They look forward to
spending a lot of time together over the coming months.
We added some more pictures.
September 11:
Annika has begun eating a lot of different foods, see
video of her eating bread. See
pictures from the last week.
September 4:
Annika crawled forward for the first time today! See the
picture on right,
and 2 videos also. Last weekend we spent both days at Semsvannet, a lake close to our house. This weekend we
took our first road trip in the new car to Strømstad, Sweden.
We walked around the town and ate at a great restaurant
overlooking the water...we also bought lots of swedish meatballs
and swedish beer (we couldn't find any swedish fish). See
pictures from the past two weeks. We also added
her 8 month growth picture.
August
24:
We had a great weekend with Maddie! Scott is now getting
ready to start up classes again this week, and Marit is
preparing for starting work in 3 weeks. Our part time
schedules will allow for one of us to be home during the work
week each day, so we will not have to find care for Annika until
the earliest around May or June. See
pictures from this past week.
August
17:
We
are back from our week long trip to Kristiansand. We had a
wonderful time with Elisabeth, Ingvild, and Leif Egil at the
Kolrud summer house in Sodefjed (20 mins outside of Kristiansand).
See pictures from
this trip. We now look forward to Maddie coming to visit
us on Friday!
August
4:
We
bought a car on Tuesday!
Its a 2000 Peugeot 306XT sports wagon. It was hard finding
a automatic transmission car in Norway, but this one ended up
being exactly what we were looking for. See new
pictures from the past few days.
July
31:
We have been having fun the past couple of days. We
visited the town of Drøbak on Wednesday with Liv, Morten, and
Benjamin, and had a nice bbq at their house afterwards.
Yesterday, all three of us hiked from our house to the top of
Kolsås! It was a beautiful day, and we got some great
views of the fjord and Oslo. Here are some
pictures from the
past few days and Annika's
7 month picture.
We also fixed the
video.
July
26:
We have finally gotten around to updating the website. All
has been going well with us, and it has been relatively quiet.
We have added a funny
video of Annika
laughing with Marit, and added pictures from the
last two weeks.
July
9:It has been a hot week in Oslo (averaging in the high
80's)...today it was 93F! Oslo is the warmest city in
Europe today. We have been spending a lot of time outside,
mostly relaxing in our backyard and on our patio deck. See
pictures from the
last few days.
July
6:It has been a busy first week back in Norway for Annika.
She has visited with family (including her Norwegian Great
Grandparents), eaten solids for the first time, celebrated her
first 4th of July, and have had her 6 month check-up
appointment. See pictures of her
week and a video of her
eating. Annika now weighs 16.2 lbs and measures 26 inches!
We have updated her growth charts.
and added a month 6 picture
of her next to sleeping bear. We also now have a new
domain (www.randall.no)
and new email addresses can be found in contact us.
July
3:We are back from our trip to the US. We had a
wonderful time! We enjoyed visiting so many of our close
friends and family members during our stay. See the
picture gallery for updated pictures from our trip.
June 9:We are having a great time in the US. We have seen
a lot of Scott's family, and especially spent a lot of time with
Grandmom and the Great Grandparents. It has been a little
warm here (high of 88F/28C for a few days), so we have not done
too much outdoors. We have taken some
pictures.
May
31:Annika had her 5 month check up appointment today. She
weighed 14 lbs 7 oz and is now 24.4 inches long (62 cm). We have
updated her growth charts.
May
28:
Annika is 5 months old today! We have added another
monthly picture
of her next to Sleeping Bear.
May
25:
Annika's baptism was on Sunday. It was a really nice ceremony
and a great party afterwords. See
pictures here. We
have a new video of our
laughing daughter!
May
18:
Today Scott delivered his last exam essay for the semester. The
essay, an historical analysis of Kolsås, can be
downloaded directly
here, or from the
school
page. We added a few more pictures of Scott and
Annika to week 20 pictures.
May
17:
Today is Norway's National day (called 17th of May), marking 100
years of freedom from Swedish rule. We participated in a
traditional 17th of May parade and festivities, see
week 20 pictures.
May
14:
We had a nice week this week, spending a lot of time outdoors in
the beautiful spring weather. Today we grilled out in our
yard with Elisabeth, Leif Egil, and Ingvild. See
week 19 pictures.
May
8:
Happy Mothers Day to Sheila and all the other mothers out there!
Annika and Marit were in Sandefjord yesterday visiting the Great
Grandparents. Today we got a visit from Uncle Lars and Mari.
See the new week 18 pictures.
May
5:
Scott has completed his first draft of his Thesis Proposal,
which can be downloaded here. See a
new picture of our happy little girl on the right.
May
3:
Today Annika went to her 4 month check-up appointment. She
weighed 13.2 lbs (6 kg)! We have updated her growth charts.
Annika bathed for mamma and pappa's special anniversary dinner.
See picture on right. One new
video too.
May
2:
Scott handed in two exams today (for SUM4012), and only has two
more to go for this semester! These papers and others he
has written are available here.
April 28:
Annika is 4 months old today! We have added another
monthly picture
of her next to Sleeping Bear.
April 25:We have all been sick lately, so we
have had a quiet weekend. On Thursday, Scott was alone
with Annika all day while Marit went to a meeting, they had a
great time (in Frognerparken)and she even took the bottle!
Annika is getting chunky and very good at "tummy time"! See Pictures in week 16 photogallery.We have added one
more video
of Annika
April 18:
Last week we applied for a passport for Annika in preparation
for our US trip in June. On Sunday, Lars, Mari and Mormor and
Bestefar came over to visit Annika. In the evening we took a
long stroll around Kolsås mountain.
See Pictures in week 15 photogallery.We have added
another video
of Annika
April 10:We went to Benjamin's 1st birthday party today! We don't
have any pictures from the party, but we do have some of Annika
dressed up for the party in
week 14 pictures.
April 9:This has been a baby weekend! Today we had lunch with Elisabeth and Annika's
3 week old playmate Ingvild (also ingvild's 8 month old
cousin Eline, and Elisabeth's mother and sister). Yesterday we
visited Scott's friend Ruzzel (from Norwegian classes), Gina,
and their 2 week old baby boy (Christian Anthony). We have added
some of my mom's pictures to the week 8 and week 10
photogalleries.
April 4:We had a barbeque with Mari and Lars yesterday, it got
pretty chilly, but we enjoyed Scott's delicious burgers.
We have added pictures to the week 13 picture
gallery.
March 29:Annika went to her 3 month check-up appointment today.
She weighed in at 11.6 lbs! We have updated her
growth charts,
which shows she is growing well according to the average.
We have started a new week 13 picture
gallery.
March 28:Annika is 3 months old today! We have added another
monthly picture
of her next to Sleeping Bear.
March 27:We had a great Easter vacation in Bondal, Telemark. We
rented a car and drove up to the mountains Wednesday and got
back today. The weather was beautiful, and we spent a lot
of time outdoors. Annika really enjoyed her first Easter in
Bondal. We also celebrated Marit's
birthday. Seeweek 12 picsfrom Bondal.
March 22:Annika is getting so big! She has already doubled her birth
weight and she is "talking" so much; everyday she makes new
sounds! Scott is done with his exams, so we have
rented a car and are getting ready for Easter vacation in the
mountains. Yesterday, the barselgroup went to Høvikodden. Seeweek 11 pics.
March 12:During the last week Annika has had many "firsts' and been
to a lot of different places. She has been to the movies (babykino
in Sandvika where we saw Sideways), she has taken the train to
AmCham (visiting Pappa's colleagues), to Mattilsynet (visiting
mamma's colleagues), to a Chinese Restaurant (with Elin and
mamma), and to Horni Gård (a
farm with horses). Few of these events were captured on film,
but we have some week 10 pics.
March 5:We (Annika, Marit, Scott, Roger, and Inger) traveled to
Sandefjord today to visit Annika's great grandparents (Olol and
Besse) for the first time. It was a great trip, we even
got to visit Tante Aagot (Marit's great aunt who is 92 years
old!) and Even (Marit's second cousin). We have added
pictures from the trip to week 9 pictures.
March 2:Marit hosted her barsel (maternity) group here today, all of
the mothers and babies had a lot of fun. Next week we will
get some pictures of the group. We have added
week 9 pictures.
February 28:Annika is 2 months old today! We weighed her 3 days ago at
9,9 lbs. Today mamma has gotten a hair cut so Annika won't pull
my hair every time she eats :) Check out Annika's monthly growth
pictures and her
growth chart.
February 24:We have reorganized Annika's page,
and added a list of baby
equipment we have found useful so far, and recommend to other
parents, and parents-to-be. We have also added
week 8 pictures.
February 21:We recently stumbled across some of Marit's old baby
pictures (thanks to Inger), can you tell the
difference between Marit and Annika?
February 20:Grandmom has had a great week and is getting ready to go
back to the US tomorrow (Monday). We have all done so much
together and have had a wonderful time. We hope maybe she can
come back for the baptism in May.
February 13:Grandmom (farmor) has been enjoying her visit, and is
cherishing her time with her granddaughter, see
picture on right
of her holding Annika when she arrived on saturday. We are
preparing for the birthday celebration tomorrow, dinner at our house.
We added some new week 7 pictures.
February 11:We are anxiously awaiting for Sheila (grandmom) to arrive.
She will be visiting from Feb 12 - 21, and we will be having a
special celebration on Feb 14. Annika has been busy
smiling, taking strolls, and enjoying her new flower (Mr. Agi
Ahgoo) that we have planted in between the sofa cushions, see
picture on right.
February 8:Annika went to her first doctor's visit today (the 6 week
check up). She now weighs 4 kg (8.8 lbs) and measures 51 cm (20
inches)! Scott enjoys being back home with his little girl. New
week 6
and week 7 photogalleries.
February 5:Marit and Annika are home alone this weekend since Scott
went to Maryland for the weekend to visit his family. Mormor
went grocery shopping for me and stopped by yesterday so I could
eat lunch and get some stuff done around the house. Then Lars
came and made dinner and kept me company last night. Today,
mormor and bestefar (Inger and Roger) visited (they brought
baked goods!) and the 4 of us went on a long stroll. Annika was
wearing the wool outfit mommy knitted for her (see
picture). I've added a few pictures from the
hospital from my
mom's camera.
January 29:Annika was one month old yesterday! We are going to
track her growth month-by-month using her "sleeping bear" as a
reference, see
picture on right.
We have also started using our Dr. Sears baby sling which
enables us to do other things while holding and loving our
little girl. We have added a new
week 5 picture gallery.
January 26:Annika now weighs 3500 grams or 7.7lbs (she has gained 40%
of her birth weight in just 4 weeks)! Today Annika went to barsel group and met other babies her age and their mothers. We
took the bus there, but then walked back home from Sandvika
since the weather was nice. Yesterday Annika ate Tran (fatty
fish oil containing omega 3 and vitamin D) for the first time
(see picture to the
right). We have added a couple more pics to
week 4 pictures.
January 23:Elin came to visit us today, she liked
Annikas funky hair.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny and relatively warm day, so we
went on a long stroll through the park and along the river to
Sandvika, see
picture on right.
We added more pics to
week 4 pictures.
January 20:Scott started spring semester classes on Tuesday, and is
finishing up a newsletter for AMCHAM...this has taken him away
from his loved ones, but only for a few hours at a time.
We added some new week 4 pictures,
and reorganized the photogalleries.
January 17:Our picturewas in
the local newspaper (Asker & Bærum
Budstikke) last Thursday. Yesterday morning, mormor and
bestefar visited us, and then last night Uncle Lars and Mari
paid us a visit. Between visits we went on a long stroll around
the neighborhood (see pictures from this day and week 3).
January 15:We took two more stroller rides this week, see
picture of Annika
bundled up for the ride on right. It has been so warm
here, and it is forcasted that this warm weather will continue.
It is the
warmest January in over 37
years in Oslo, with temperatures averaging in the
40'sF, and the last snow fall was the day Annika was born.
January 11:Annika took her first
stroller ride
around the block today...she liked it a lot...it was a quick one
though, the temp was 7C and dropping. We have added
more
pictures and videos of our
sweet little one.
January 10:Annika got her first
bath
at home yesterday, see picture on right. Also today the helsesøster from
Sandvika Helsestasjon visited us at home, she gave us some
helpful tips, and answered a lot of our questions.
January 6:We would like to thank everyone for sending us such nice
wishes (emails, cards, phone calls, gifts, flowers)...it is nice
to know that our little baby is only a week old and already has
so many friends and family members that love her!
January 5:Liv, Morten, and Benjamin visited us tonight, and also made
us a yummy dinner! Of course, Annika slept through the
whole event. It looks like she got her "sleeping genes"
from Scott.
January 1-2:We are home! Everything was going so well with Annika
and Marit, we were able to come home new years eve, a day early!
The first day at home was perfect, Annika hasn't cried yet, and
is fully content eating, sleeping, and looking around the house.
We have placed a video on annika's page and
some photo galleries in pictures.
December 28:
IT'S A GIRL!
Annika Randall was born Dec 28, 2004, 8:16PM at Baerum
Sykehus. She was 44cm long, and 1530 grams.
December 26:We had a wonderful christmas at Marit's parents house, see
picture on right.
We added a week 38 picture of Marit.
December 19:We put up our christmas tree last night, see
picture.
Marit is now on maternity leave, and she is excited; we added a
week 37 picture.
December 13:There have been some beautiful sunsets recently, and some
amazing views from our backyard, see
picture on the
right.
December 8:Marit was diagnosed with
SPD, a slight loosening of the pelvic ligaments. This
is just the body's preparation for the birth and she is still
able to work full time. Read more about Marit's pregnancy and birth.
December 5:Marit is getting a lot bigger, and
starting to become a little tired and uncomfortable. Scott
is selling a lot of old computer equipment on QXL, while also
working on his final exam due Dec 10.
November 27:We had Thanksgiving dinner in Norway! This was the
first time Marit and Scott cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, and all
went well. We served turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes,
gravy, green been casserole, pumpkin pie, and apple pie.
The picture on the right is while we were eating dessert (from
left to right: Roger, Lars, Marit, Inger, and Mari).
November 22: The second snowstorm of the year in Oslo!
We got about 5 inches of snow today, and about 6 inches on
November 17...all of it has stuck around too
because the temperature has been from -10 to -2 degrees
Celsius. See picture on right of our backyard taken
from the living room window.
November 14: Scott finished the HTPC, for more
information, and specs, go to computing.
November 7: Marit is still feeling great! The due
date is now only 9 weeks away, and we are getting really
excited for the arrival of our new family member. To see
ultrasound picture and Marit's belly
grow, go to pictures.
November 2-3: Scott and Marit celebrated the
U.S. presidential election at the American Chambers "US Election
Night Event" at the Grand Hotel in Oslo. Scott was
interviewed in the Aftenposten, and got his picture in the
paper, see
article.
November 1: Marit started
her new job at
Mattilsynet. She
is an ecotoxicologist for the department that approves pesticides.
October 15-17:
We went to the mountains with our friends
Elisabeth and Leif Egil. Their cabin in Valdres is located
900 m above sea level and it snowed on Saturday! But, by the
time the
picture on the right was taken, it had all melted away.
