The power of social media

Last week I got my 15 minutes of fame, well it was more like 15 seconds…more than I’ve ever wanted/needed.

It all started out with a venting on Facebook and before I knew it I had over 100 (!) comments and more were coming…

A Facebook-friend noticed all the commotion and suddenly I was asked if I would like to interviewed by NRK Østlandssendingen for a segment. The interview resulted in an article published on nrk.no here and a follow-up article here. Sorry to my international readers, both articles are in Norwegian. If you’re interested in the TV segment, it’s available here (aired on NRK February 18th – not sure if this can be viewed if you have a non-Norwegian IP-address) The TV segment was originally aired as part of Østlandssendingen, but when they saw the buzz this segment created it was bumped up to the 9 o’clock news for the whole nation to see.

The articles and TV segment has triggered intense discussions on social media Facebook (especially on NRKs FB-page), Twitter and even in my workplace. This subjects obviously sparks a reaction with most people.

Just so I’m clear, the article has focused on the part of yoghurt not being allowed in kindergartens in my district. But this is just a part of a bigger plan which I’m very positive towards – focus on eating healthy and more activity. Statistics in my district show an increasing number of  overweight children, so this focus on diet and activity as early as kindergarten is awareness at an early age. The results of this focus is yet to be seen.

So there you have it, me and SweetieS 15 seconds of fame all thanks to Facebook.

It’s that time again

Time to apply for kindergarten for BabyL. Two years ago when I was looking into kindergartens for BabyS, I did an extensive job mapping the kindergartens. You can read that post here.

This time the rules of the game have changed. With SweetieS in a kindergarten called Barneslottet in our district, we now can apply for sibling priority. This way our application is prioritized for a spot if we choose to apply to the same kindergarten.

Let’s be honest, why would we have our two children in two different kindergartens? Beside, we as parents and SweetieS are very happy with Barneslottet. The employees are wonderful caregivers and the facilities are awesome. Who wouldn’t want to spend their whole day playing in a building with 10(!) rooms with themes and an outside area of 6140 square meters(!)?

So applying for a kindergarten spot for BabyL is a no-brainer. Just remember to put in the application no later than March 1^st.
- More information on the whole kindergarten application process can be found here.
- To apply for a kindergarten spot in Oslo, apply digitally here. (to access the site, you need MinID/BankID)
- To read more about Barneslottet, look here (on the new website)

I have put in my application, so now we play the waiting game…

A beautiful mind and some to does…

My maternity leave is over and I’ve been back full-time the past week. Funny how much technical stuff I remember, it’s just buried deep…I just need to give the brain a chance to catch up.

It’s been wonderful to have some grown-up interaction that doesn’t involve babies. But I do miss my days with BabyL. With me starting working again I keep making to do lists for DaddyO…these’s always something that need doing and remembering.

First up…
- apply for a spot in SweetieS kindergarten for BabyL (starting this fall)
- research driving lesson options (I work during the day…when will I have time for my driving lessons?)
- wean BabyL off breastfeeding (I’m not rushing this, all this happens on BabyL schedule)

-What are things you have to do as you round up your maternity leave?

Knitted kindergarten set

A while back I bought some wool yarn on sale @Nille. At 10NOK a skein I just bought some without any projects in mind. Well the other day I came over a project. A knitted sweater and pants for SweetieS! After she got a “pre-loved” sweater and pants from a wonderful colleague of mine, I realized we were in need of another set.
So I went surfing around on Drops website. Did you know they have several thousands of FREE patterns just a mouse click away? Well I found these pants and this sweater.

Drops pants	Drops sweater

I used Baby Merino yarn (I think it has changed the name to Baby Ull now) by Gjestal. I used the colors 829 – light grey and 622 – light pink. And the result:

I used about two skeins of pink and two skeins of grey on the pants. On the sweater I used less than three skeins of grey and just one skein of pink. (if I didn’t remember wrong-had to buy more grey when I started on the sweater and lost count). I made the sweater a little longer than in the pattern. With the left over yarn I made some mittens using this pattern for kindergarten mittens. SweetieS has been wearing them inside and out ever since I finished them yesterday.
Off to start my next project…combining knitting and organization…what projects are you doing these days?

Back to work

This week I went back to work after 9 months of maternity leave.

Time has flown by and BabyL is sliding/crawling around on the floor as DaddyO starts his round of paternity leave. This time around our maternity/paternity leave is divided like this:

MommyS – 6 months paid maternity leave (approx. 3 months mother quota and 3 months from the shared quota) , 3 months unpaid leave/vacation
DaddyO – 6 months paid paternity leave ( approx. 3 months from the shared quota and 3 months father quota)

And there you go, a year will have passed and BabyL starts kindergarten.

In case there is any doubt as to the paper mill that needed filling out.
Here is our process:
Mother applies for maternity leave, about two months before babys due date.
Mother quota and shared quota can ble applied in the same form
Using this form: Søknad om foreldrepenger, mødrekvote eller fedrekvote ved fødsel (Note it’s in Norwegian)
As I had a period of vacation and unpain leave, DaddyO had to apply for an extention.
Using this form: Utsettelse eller gradert uttak av foreldrepenger (fleksibelt uttak) (also in Norwegian)
Father applies for paternity leave, atleast 6 weeks before the first day of paternity leave.
Using the same form as mother used to apply for maternity leave (just another check box in the form): Søknad om foreldrepenger, mødrekvote eller fedrekvote ved fødsel (Note it’s in Norwegian)

New for this time around was the option to send some of the forms digitally – unfortunatly not all forms are have this option available yet. To use this option you will however need to have BankID, Buypass or Commfides available. Using this option allows you to follow the application process online. Though my experince with this online status left me with more questions than answers, and I wound up calling my local NAV to have my questions answered.

In two weeks time is Chinese New Year again, so in need of some cleaning and planning. So mark your calendars, Thursday, February 19. This time we enter the year of the Goat.