8.8.11

Back to work...

Today was my first full day of work since... last year. Pingu is seven months old today. Husband of feitpingvin has his work cut out for him for the next four months... muwahahaha...

As expected, work was a bit chaotic. After reorganization and my group moving floors, I had no workspace and all my crap was missing. By the time I left, I had a desk and I found a good amount of stuff but I'm still missing things like a monitor and docking station and other devices that would make it possible for me to... um... work :-P

Things should be OK tomorrow. At the very least I have a meeting all afternoon, and I was able to get a nice stack of papers to read prior to the meeting, so I don't need my stash immediately, although it would be nice to have ASAP...

I'm still without a proper computer to use. I have so much to write about Pingu, who can crawl and climb small barriers and sit up on his own, among other things. He's a clever little thing. You can't take your eyes off him or else he gets into some sort of mischief. I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet at work :-P

9.7.11

six months

Our little Pingu turned six months yesterday. To celebrate, he got his first taste of meat. It went down very well :-)

He started solid foods at five months. There is a lot of debate as to when to start babies on solids; some say four months others say wait until six months. Pingu was very ready for it at five months. He was showing great interest whenever he watched me eat something and he was always very hungry; my milk was never enough. We started with rice porridge and then moved on to vegetables. We discovered that he prefers his food with some flavor in it - garlic powder, Madras curry powder, cinnamon, basil/pesto, etc. Just a very tiny amount of course. Enough to make a difference. I don't blame him; I don't like bland food either.

Considering how active he is, it is no surprise he's hungry all the time either. He's been rolling all over the place since five months and it looks like he's very close to being able to crawl. He likes to play and he likes to be mischievous (see previous blog entry). He's very chatty. And social; he loves people always has a great time with the babysitter and the other kids when I take him to the babysitting service at my new gym. He's quite a handfull. Can't wait to get him started in Judo and Capoeira and stuff like that :-)

My regular computer is dead. I was hoping to have written more stuff over the past weeks, about Pingu and his shenanigans, and the new house and all... it will come. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my last month of maternity leave... eek!

6.7.11

Pingu shenanigans

Pingu is not allowed to play with power cords. This means that playing with power cords and especially pulling them out of the plug is the best thing in the world to do...

I'm pretty good about keeping an eye on him and making sure he stays away from the power cords. But he tries to find ways to sneak his ways to the forbidden fruit... er, power cords. He has discovered that if he "tosses" his toys towards a power cord, he can roll over to the toy and make it look like he's trying to get that toy. He'll keep "tossing" and "shoving" the toy towards the power cord until he can roll right up to the power cord and start playing with it...

The little sneak...

And he isn't even 6 months old yet (he will be on Friday). Yikes!

14.5.11

Eurovision...

I normally do a snarky blog entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, but due to other distractions (Pingu), I decided not to do it this year. It's just as well as this is the worst Eurovision I have ever seen. Usually, Eurovision is "so bad it's good." This year it's all just plain awful...

It's a shame that Dana International didn't make it to the final. I would have SMS voted for Dana International... *sigh*

25.4.11

Salma colada

I made this the other day using some of the salmalaks we hoarded; it was a very random experiment. I'll formalize the recipe some day, but in case you're good in dealing with haphazard recipes you can try it yourself...

Start cooking the sauce:
- 200 ml coconut milk
- juice from 1 can pineapple chunks (from those 3-pack things you get in Norway, can edit with more info later) - ca. 100 ml. Be sure to save the pineapple for later.
- 2 shots rum
- 2 tsp soy sauce

Bring to a boil, reduce to about 2/3 of the original amount. Add pineapple chunks.

Dust four pieces of Salmalaks (salmon) @ ca. 125 grams each with flour and fry in butter (not oil, not margarine... butter!), medium heat, to get the sides brown. Add sauce to fish and let simmer until sauce is thick. Serve with rice and black beans.

Next time I'll double the sauce.

annoying...

There was this dude at the gym who was lifting up his shirt to check out his "abs" in the mirror. All he had to offer was a round belly, even when sucking it in...

Now why couldn't this have happened when I was 30-something weeks pregnant, so that I could carry out my evil plan? The one where I whip out my pregnant belly and admire it in front of the mirror each time I see some dude lifting up his shirt to check out his abs... *sigh*

19.4.11

salmon and vegetables in spicy Thai-style blood orange sauce

One of the grocery stores here had this really fancy salmon (Salmalaks) on special and I bought a few pieces. We usually use it for sashimi but it's nice for other dishes as well...

Tonight I made a sort of Thai-like curry with the salmon. And some blood oranges I had to get rid of. Here's what I did:

- Squeezed out the juice of three blood oranges. Put the juice in a saucepan, boiled, and allowed to reduce to about half the original amount.

- In another saucepan I fried a shitload of garlic (5 cloves finely chopped), a shitload of ginger (about 2 tbsp finely chopped), and 2 finely chopped red chiles in some coconut oil. Medium heat, for about 5 minutes. I added some keffir lime leaves and stirred this mixture for about a minute.

- Then I added the blood orange juice and a can of coconut milk. Added a splash of soy sauce, a splash of fish sauce, mixed, brought to a boil, and then reduced heat and allowed to simmer.

- Once the sauce was simmering I fried some bean sprouts and julienned red pepper and carrots in some coconut oil, until the carrots started getting soft. I strained the sauce into the vegetable mixture. (You don't have to strain the sauce; I just didn't want to deal with bits today.)

- After a few minutes I added the salmon (I think it was around 450 g), chopped into cubes. I mixed the salmon carefully into the vegetable and sauce mixture, and then turned off the heat and allowed things to take care of itself (salmon doesn't need much cooking time).

- Cooked up some rice noodles to go with the "curry". Dinner served!

*burp*

Maybe some day I'll formalize this recipe a little bit more. Not today :-)

18.4.11

100 days

Pingu has now been the Emperor of our household for 100 days now. His first 100 days speech started with some cooing and gooing and aahing, ending with some shrill screeching. A revolution in the midst? Hmm...

17.4.11

getting there...

I had a really good workout this morning. I seem to be getting somewhere with the squats now, and managed 3 sets of 8 reps at 60 kg. Again, it seems like a weak core is my nemesis. It's the showstopper. And admittedly, I have been bad about training my abs since having the baby. I'm bad about training abs in general; it's so boring. But if I want to get back to the truly heavy squats, I really need to do something about my core strength. My back seems to be OK; did 70 kg deadlifts. Upper back could be better, but I'll get it back. Power (or was it not-so-power?) cleans haven't been so great so far, not that I've been doing them the few times I get to the gym either. But I'll get that back too...

I was also amused by the high number of gym freaks considering there were so few people there...

Freak #1: this guy was doing what he probably thought were squats, but it was the typical "lots of weight on the bar but barely bending his knees" scenario. I gave a really dirty look as he did a set, and he asked me what my problem was. So... I told him!

He then told me I had no idea what I was talking about. To which one of the gym regulars intervened and said "um, she does know what she's talking about. And if you had to squat properly, she'd be able to do more than you." HAH!

Freak #2: "skinny fat" guy who was doing... *drumroll* ... WRIST CURLS... THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' TIME I was doing squats, deadlifts, and (not so) power cleans. WTF?!

13.4.11

"vaccine thighs"

Vaksinelår in Norwegian. Pingu had his three month control today and, among other things, got some vaccines. His nurse said he had "vaccine thighs" - nice plump thighs that were perfect for sticking a needle into :-D

I'm so proud of him too with regard to the vaccines... he got two shots, the first one while he was asleep (rude awakening, the poor thing), and after some screaming and squealing, he went into happy-go-lucky state :-)

Pingu is doing great. He weighed in at 6690 grams, is now 61 cm long and measures 40.5 cm around his head. We have to be better about his "tummy time" training, but other than that everything is great. He's growing and developing quite nicely...

11.4.11

sharp dressed baby

It was nice and warm and sunny out yesterday, so we all had lunch at a local pub. Unlike his Mamma, who is looking tired and flabby due to lack of sleep and exercise, our little Pingu is looking rather spiffy at the tender age of three months...



Of course, it was Mini Wolfgang who taught him how to dress...



... and how to hang out at pubs hehe... which only results in Mini Wolfgang's favorite activity. Passing out at the table. Although Pingu had a bit too much milk rather than beer...

9.4.11

three months

Pingu turned three months yesterday. I was going to post this yesterday too, but I couldn't log in... boo!

Anyway, I took him to the clinic to get weighed and he was 6550 grams, meaning he weighs a little over twice his birth weight. Damn he's gotten big :-)

He's also changed quite a lot over these past weeks too. He's more curious about the world around him. Some of his signals - cries, facial expressions, hand movements etc - are becoming more clear and we're starting to understand what he wants (and doesn't want). He smiles a lot and makes a lot of cute heart-melting noises. But when he gets cranky... look out world!

The thing that's most "fun" now is how he reacts to his toys. He first started "playing" with plush penguins at around 10 weeks, but now he's even more curious and playful with them, plus he enjoys his other toys - rattling toys that are colorful and make noise. Good fun for him! We have also re-mounted a mechanical mobile to his crib and he loves watching it rotate around while music is playing. His expression while watching the shapes move around is just priceless :-D

The weather has been quite nice here the past few days and is expected to continue to be nice for a little while, so we're going to go out to do a photo session tomorrow. Stay tuned :-)

2.4.11

stupid calves...

Don't you hate it when a pulled muscle ruins your workout? And the rest of your day? Grrrrrmf!

I did manage to do a set of Tabatas though. I tried to do back and abs exercises after I limped off the treadmill, but my mood was already killed... bah...

1.4.11

I haz shiny new passport!!1!!1!

Wow, the new passports are really nice. I really like all the different pictures and quotes on the pages as opposed to that old boring design.

What's also great is that I could order a 52-page version right away, so that I won't have to deal with getting extra pages well before my passport expires...

31.3.11

comfort food

Today is one of those not-so-nice spring days. You know, the one that is more of a winter day than a spring day...

I'm making meatloaf for dinner tonight, served with mashed potatoes, green beans, and brown gravy. I haven't made meatloaf in ages, and it's the right kind of day for a meatloaf meal...

What comfort foods do you enjoy? And what's for dinner tonight?

lazy Thursday

The weather has suddenly turned from nice to total crap. It was snowing earlier, this wet snow that gets nasty when it hits the ground. Now it's raining. Bah. Indoor weather for sure...

I did manage to force myself to go out while it was snowing since I needed to buy diapers and some groceries for dinner. Rather than use the pram, I used our baby carrier. He was awake at the start, and was rather fascinated with the snowflakes. However, with all that excitement, he fell asleep shortly after I started walking towards the store :-)

Pingu actually napped almost properly today. He slept for about an hour this afternoon, which is great since I've been having a hard time getting to sleep at all in during the day, unless I take him out in the pram. I had some stuff to do, but was able to manage a half hour lie-down. I still need more sleep though...

27.3.11

I hate daylight savings...

I really need the hour that I have now lost. Because of it, I probably won't be able to take Pingu out in the pram so that he can get some fresh air. I'm off-schedule and in a bad mood because of it. Everything feels so wrong today...

I didn't make it to the gym until noon; I had been hoping to go between 10 and 11. Grrr. I did mostly upper body work and I'm still pathetically weak since I'm only able to do proper strength training once a week. My hips will be screwy for quite some time, or so they say, so no heavy squats for a while. Not sure what to do about the evil legs. I'll figure it out. Not this moment though... *grumble*

Running is getting better. I did some treadmill work yesterday and it felt pretty good. I warmed up for 10 minutes on the elliptical again, and I think next time I can cut that out and warm up on the treadmill, or cut it down to five minutes. We'll see. I was also able to run faster this time. But still too slow for me. Nonetheless, I think I'll be ready for some Tabatas next week. And hopefully in a few weeks it will be possible to run outside. It's starting to get warm enough, but it's rather dirty and nasty - lots of sand and gravel and leftover snow and other crap. It gets windy this time of year and all that crap blows into your eyes and you have to breathe it in too... yuck. They really need to clean up the streets soon...

Pingu is 11 weeks 1 day today, and I hope to get some photos taken since we didn't do anything last weekend. But as mentioned earlier, this daylight savings crap has thrown off the timing of everything... :-(

25.3.11

cute and cuddly...

Taken using my mobile phone. I really should use my proper camera for shots like this...

21.3.11

10 weeks of Pingu-related facebook status messages

Not all of them, but most of them ;-)

Jan 9: Pingu is here! He decided to show up 8th of January at 23:17. He has blue eyes and lots of dark hair, is 49 cm long and 3232 grams. Now... to find a proper name for him!

Jan 10 feitpingvin loves the smell of newborn baby ♥

Jan 13 feitpingvin walked into the bedroom to see Pingu and husband of feitpingvin sleeping in the *exact* same position! ♥

Jan 15 feitpingvin has a feeling that little Pingu is going to end up with a career as professional competitive eater... :-P

Jan 16 feitpingvin has given Pingu his first shampoo and rinse. He really enjoyed having warm water poured over his head... ♥

Jan 22 feitpingvin and husband of feitpingvin have just been out and about with Pingu. First to the curry house for lunch, followed by a nice walk through the botanic garden, and then tasty apple tarts at the Munch Museum café. Pingu slept the whole time ♥

Jan 28 feitpingvin wonders how it's possible for a nearly 3 week old baby to stay completely awake the whole night and most of the day. Don't babies like to sleep?

Feb 4 feitpingvin has milk puke all over her neck...

Feb 5: The joys of parenthood: power puke followed by power poop all over Pappa, power puke followed by power pee all over Mamma, and now rather pleased with Himself after a bath...

Feb 8 feitpingvin and husband of feitpingvin have both been blessed with big wet milky "kisses" from Pingu :-)

Feb 11 feitpingvin was at the clinic earlier today, to weigh Pingu. He's turning into quite the RoF baby: 4050 grams today, up from 3630 grams last week.

Feb 19 feitpingvin asked Pingu if he wanted to take a nap. Pingu raised a fist, stuck his thumb out, and then turned the thumb down...

Feb 27: Pappa: Pingu, are you going to gulp all over me?
Pingu: *smile*

Mar 3 feitpingvin has taken Pingu out to a café, so that he could flirt with some pretty girls... ♥

Mar 4 feitpingvin is holding Pingu over her shoulder; he is sucking her neck! OH NOES VAMPIRE BABY!1!

Mar 12 feitpingvin thinks it's amusing how babies sleep sometimes - flat on their back with their limbs all over the place. Kind of like dogs... :-P

Mar 15 feitpingvin is rather impressed with the belches and farts that Pingu can rip...

Mar 19 feitpingvin is watching Pingu happily play with a plush penguin ♥

20.3.11

squats

My postpartum hips are messing things up for doing proper heavy squats. I can only go up to 50 kg and then things start feeling really weird and wrong.

At the same time, it seems like doing deep squats while holding the baby is a good way to calm him down. So while it's not the same as having 80 kg on my back, I don't think I'm going to lose too much leg strength. Especially since I'll get more resistance as Pingu gets heavier...

19.3.11

postpartum - getting back into shape

Well... it's been 10 weeks since my little Pingu was born, and I need to whip my fat penguiny ass back into shape. Not necessarily to lose those last pregnancy kilos per se, although that is a desirable side-effect. I really need to 1) get my energy levels up, 2) avoid destroying all the hard work I've done before getting pregnant. Plus, Pingu will only benefit from an energetic Mamma who can keep up with him when he plays and stuff. People say that older moms hurt their kids by not having the energy to keep up the way a young mom can. Screw that...

I actually started going back to the gym 4 weeks postpartum. I could have started going earlier, and I could probably go more often if I had the chance to (lack of someone to watch Pingu while I'm at the gym on weekday). House hunting stole some time as well, although that is done and overwith. I try to make do at home. Simple stuff - bodyweight exercises and long trips with the pram (Pingu just sleeps). It's not the same as Krav Maga or hitting the weights, but it's better than nothing...

Today I did some running/jogging for the first time since week 30 of my pregnancy. I took it easy: After a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical, I started with walking/jogging intervals (on the treadmill) 1 min 7 km/h 1 min 9.5 km/h, and after 10 minutes changed the interval to 1 min 7 km/h 2 min 9.5 km/h, and at 20 minutes I ran/jogged for 10 minutes at 9.0 km/h. It was pretty easy so I'll go a little bit harder next time. Although it felt a bit weird; my hips are still "expanded" which throws things off a bit. I really hope the hips get back to somewhat normal soon *grrr*

I'm also wondering how my calves are going to feel tomorrow. Yeah, I wore the FFFFs ;-)

Excellent...

At this moment, my 10 week old son is happily playing with a big plush penguin that I placed in his crib. He's grabbing the penguin's flipper and stroking its back and making these really cute cooing noises...

This is a good thing. It's now possible for him to be awake without either me or husband of feitpingvin having to constantly entertain him. I might be able to start getting stuff done now :-)

10 weeks ago...

...my son was born. That is, he was born the 8th of January, at 23:17. He weighed in at 3232 grams and was 49 cm long, with a head circumference of 35 cm.

As you can see in the photo below, when he was about a day and a half old, he was also born with a rather impressive head of hair, and this is something which draws a lot of attention. I love his hair; it's very obvious who he got that from ;-)



The actual birth was OK. I didn't get the water birth I wanted due to a bunch of crazy circumstances. But it wasn't that bad either. I had to use some laughing gas since I didn't get the water, but other than that I didn't feel that drugs were necessary. If you breathe properly, you can manage a good amount of the pain. And it's true that you forget about it rather quickly. To be honest, I think it was much worse getting my broken nose snapped back into place than giving birth...

Of course life with a baby is a bit crazy, and rather trying at times. Being a first time mom, I sometimes feel completely clueless and even useless at times. The first few weeks were difficult because I always felt like I had no idea what I was doing much of the time. But my little Pingu is growing and thriving. He's becoming a properly plump baby (5780 grams yesterday), gurgling proper baby noises when he's awake. He smiles a lot. He loves it when I go out to cafés because he gets to meet new people. He loves to play. And he loves to gulp all over me and Pappa... hah!

By the way, how is it that something so tiny can belch like a burly truck driver?

Anyway, I'll be writing more in the future...

Here's a photo of the two of us taken when he was 8 weeks one day old :-)