It's happened!
Mood:  amorous

Yesterday  I got married to the most wonderful man! The weather was beautiful from the morning. Which was good, because as you can see, my dress wasn't very warm.

The ceremony was beautiful, and lots of friends and family joined us at Mangen chapel. After the ceremony we had a lovely meal with witnesses, parents and our lovely Sindre. A bigger celebration will happen in the autumn.

I'm hoping to put up some photos in the near future so you can all marvel at how beautiful we were... My father in-law told Kyrre yesterday that he should take a close look at me because he would never see me more beautiful! And I guess he was right.

 

 

Sweet or what?
I quite liked this ticker:



The baby is slowly moving towards the left of the ticker :)

My counting is slightly different though, with the length of pregnancy being 2 days in front of the ticker, but the countdown to the due date is the same.
Have a nice evening!

The wonder of medical tools...
Last night we managed to hear the heartbeat of junior at home with a normal stetoscope!
Both the doctor and the communal midwife use special pregnancy ones to be sure to find it. We tried using a normal one around week 12, but all we could hear then was my intestines and stomach sounds, not very inspiring..

The expecting dad tried first, but couldn't find it. I had a better feel at how he was positioned and hit the jackpot immediately! The feeling was almost as great as the first time we heard it at the midwife's, and we both got to hear it. Unfortunately it didn't last long though, as he moved away from the front of the womb, and there was just silence again.

I didn't get to check the heart rate, but the health professional amongst us said that it was definitely a 140 beats per second.

New car around the corner

And yes, it is literally just around the corner. The car dealership is less than 5 minutes away on foot, and my car has arrived! It's a Peugeot 307 Oxygo estate, rather green in colour. I'm hoping to pick it up end of this week or start of next week. As regards to my previous post on the Polo, I have decided to trade it in. I don't get much for it, but wouldn't get much more for it if I sold it on the private market either, so less hassle for me. Excited to try out this new addition now :)

Quandary
We have decided to get a new car for the new arrival. Nothing surprising about that, as we have one 2-seater Suzuki that requires a new loan to convert to a 5-seater, and my wee right-hand-drive Polo (with only 2 doors) that I self-handedly imported when I got a job here in Norway in 2004. Two doors are impractical with a baby, and I probably wouldn't fit a pram in it anyway. My boyfriend is too tall to comfortably use it.

My quandary is such: do I really want to get rid of the last big item that still ties me to the UK? I actually like the fact that I'm a bit different from the rest of the crowd ... I'm slowly being absorbed by the Norwegian society, and the bits I absorbed by Scotland are slowly being diluted and disappears quickly. This actually scares me a bit. Don't ask why, but such is life.

Rant over :)

Proof of life
Woke up by the alarm at 7:05 and lay back down again to relax a little bit. I have started the mornings the past few months on my back and with my hands on my belly. I'm amazed at concious I am about this pregnancy so much of the day.

But anyway, this morning I felt a small foot kick into the side of the womb. Didn't hurt, and it wouldn't have woken me up, but I could feel it!! I have been waiting for this for a few weeks now, knowing that it could happen soon. The anticipation has been a good feeling.

Here in Norway they are doing a survey called something like 'count the well-being' where expecting mothers are encouraged to note down activity from the little one from about week 28 or so. The idea is that changes in activity levels, especially towards the end of the pregnancy can be an indication of a problem, and should be checked out. We'll see whether I'll manage to make time for it regularly or not.

So far, the pregnancy has been without problems. I felt a little bit sick the second and third months, but listening to others, I think I've been lucky. Now my bump has started to grow properly, earlier I just felt fat. My previous thought that this period will be the first time that I'll be happy about my tummy-size has so far proven to be correct.

Amazing life!

This wee fella is now 18 weeks, got 10 fingers, and hopefully 10 toes (he hid them), a beating heart and a perfect spine! We're hoping to meet him face to face around the 28th July, 5 months away today! His heart beats about 150 beats a minute, healthy and strong.

Just thought I would share this great news with you!

Lost character ... (no, not what you think ..)
Wow, 2 updates in one day!
A friend of a friend's blog inspired me to try this: Which Lost character are you?
A note of warning: this is from a dating site, and they ask for some info before you get your result..

I am supposedly Boone - oh no, he's the one who died, isn't he?

You scored 72% kindness, 41% courage, 10% seedy past, and 35% secretiveness!

"I know you made a promise. I'm letting you off the hook. Let me go, Jack."
You are Boone. You are kind and brave, with a slightly less checkered past than your fellow survivors. You are an open book, and do not keep secrets from anyone. While your humanitarian efforts are chivalrous, being so trusting and helpful can get you into major trouble...especially when you spend your days hanging around John Locke. Stay away from the manipulative types and you should be winning a Nobel Peace Prize in no time.
Your polar opposite is: Danielle. You are similar to: Jack and Claire.

web.frustration
Topic: Frustration
It turns out that my new internet provider (actually a former employer) doesn't provide web space unless you have a domain with them. Which is a real shame, as most providers in Norway provide such to private accounts.

Guess my problem is that mine isn't a private internet account, it's through my employer. Companies tend to have their own domains and don't need 'user accounts' on the providers domain.

I don't want to move my domain (helleve.org) to Ventelo, so I guess I just have to stay with Angelfire for a while longer. I like the blog and photo-album services here, so no other good reason to move than the annoying pop-ups and advertisements I guess... Question is whether the annoyance is so great that the hassle of doing it on my own is worth it? At the moment it isn't. I might change my mind on this one though. I'll keep you posted.

Skiing and my own flat!
Topic: Evening skiing
The estate agent phoned me during lunch to tell me that nobody had used their option to buy the flat in Nedre Nyg?rd 17D, so I'd got it! I could feel the adrenaline raising as I was speaking to her. Now I just need to make some smaller decisions like how much money do I keep for furniture, and when do I want to move?

At 8.45pm, I met up with my faithful skiing buddy again. We did 2 laps of the ski tracks before a good gab at the end next to her exit. I then got to ski home in the dark again. Even though it was overcast, it was still light enough to easily see where I was going. I had borrowed a head lamp, but didn't really need it.

Skiing was not quite as easy as on Monday night, but it was still easy, and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. My friend said that she's normally at her peak fitness at the end of the skiing season, and then it's reduced throughout the summer. I'm afraid it'll be the same for me this year, but I'm really happy that I'm doing so well so far! Perhaps it'll inspire us to continue through the summer nights as well? We can always hope!

Skiing so far: 10 laps (total 31 km) + other trips, 49,5 km