Sunday, April 29, 2012

Parental benefit on birth...the form paper mill

After several weeks of red tape I think I am finally finished with the chaos that is NAV forms.

Given this is my first pregnancy there was a lot of confusion for me. So I thought I would sum up what I learned from the process. Hopefully this will help clear up some issues for others that are in the same situation…in Norway of course (as this applies to Norwegian citizens only)

In Norway a few benefits are a given in relation to giving birth (given that you  have been occupationally active and have had a pensionable income for at least six of the last ten months before the benefit period commences);
- You can receive 100 percent of your parental benefits for a period of 47 weeks or 80 percent of your parental benefits for a period of 57 weeks. These weeks are divided as follows.

  • last three weeks before the due date and the first six weeks after the child is born are reserved for the mother.
  • 12 weeks are reserved for the father
  • The remaining benefit weeks can be shared between the parents (the joint period)

So receive parental benefits there are a “few” forms that have to be filled with NAV (The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration)

1. “Application for parental benefits or a paternal quota for a birth” for the mother.

  • remember due date confirmation from doctor, dated after 26 weeks of the pregnancy

(2.) “Application for parental benefits or a paternal quota for a birth” for the father

  • has to been filled with NAV within the last day of the joint period, in other words before the father quota begins

Then there’s the curve balls…

Since both me and my husband are employed at places where the parental benefits are paid by our employer there are MORE forms. PS: that our employer pays out out benefits IS a good thing…

3.  “Income and tax information for employees” for the mother

4. “Income and tax information for employees” for the father

    • the form is filed by the employer, but we ARE responsible for them being filed.

To ease the transition from maternity leave back to work for me, and from work to maternity leave for hubby - we decided to go for a graduated parental benefit solution after the joint period. This means practically combing work with maternity leave, thus prolonging the maternity leave period.

We are planning on 5 weeks I work two days a week and my husband works three days a weeks, and then vice versa for another 5 weeks. Then it’s back to work full time for me.

Again this means ANOTHER form…

(5.)“Postponement or graduated parental benefits” for the mother

(6.) “Postponement or graduated parental benefits” for the father

  • this is an agreement between you as an employee and your employer, so involve your employer as soon as this is an option.
  • this form can’t be processed until the baby has been born. So this form can be filed after the maternity leave has begun.
  • your employer might need information from you before your file this form with NAV.

*The forms with numbers in brackets are forms don’t need to be filed until the maternity leave for the mother begins.

Not all the forms have been filed yet on my part. But at least now I know what forms are needed for our maternity leave to go smoothly…

Phew….that’s it for me this time. Now that the paper mill has begun rolling, that’s one worry less for me to think about…

Forms mentioned above are available @www.nav.no

All I can say for those of you who are at the beginning of this paper mill:

Good luck!!!

Baby steps…

With just one month to go to our due date we have started to do some preparations for the coming event…

Have done three loads of laundry just today…our house looks like a bomb went of in a clothing store or something. Sorry no pictures of the mountain of  baby clothes that now resides in our house…

The nursery has finally been cleared for all that’s doesn’t belong there. Will try and post pictures soon…still need to pick up some things for the nursery before it’s “complete”.

Hubby also assembles the Stokke Tripp Trapp chair with the Newborn set we bought on offer around Christmas last year.

TrippTrappEdit

Slowly but surely we are getting there…

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Murphys Law

Everybody knows Murphys Law, either by own experience or heard others talk about it. Just in case you really are that lucky and never had a case of Murphys Law happen around you, I wikipedia’ed it for you here.
Anyways…Right after Easter we went shopping for a new dresser to have in our bedroom, at the foot of our bed. It would double as storage and with a little help/creativity as a “bench”.

I had started with my mind set on a six drawer dresser from IKEA, until we started to look at the measurements. Realizing that the dresser would be too high, we started looking at other options. We would up with a dresser by danish Tvilum.

My husband was super nice and started the assembly while I rested on the couch. But assembly came to a full stop when he realized that we were missing two parts! Luckily the drawer could be assembled even with the parts missing as they are just for show and don’t affect the use of the dresser. And the missing parts have been ordered…hopefully it doesn’t take to long for us to receive them

Photo 22 24 25 24.04.12
the dresser used with the missing parts

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Pimple free

Today we had electricians at our house to redo the floor heating system controls on the wall.

Early birds as handymen in Norway are…they showed up bright and early 7.30!

After a few hours of work..here’s the result

GjesteromBryterCollageTake2

WAAAAYYYY better than I posted earlier. Now we just need to a dab of spackle and paint to fix the wall around…

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Like a pimple on the wall…

Just before Easter we had an electrician here to install floor heating in one of the newly renovated bedrooms. Since there wasn’t any preexisting installment in the room (in the walls), the electrician installed the floor heating system controls and wiring on the outside of the walls.

“Darn it!” I thought when I saw the finished result, it looked like a a pimple on the wall. Hated that the switch was installed in a frame on top of the wall, instead of being set into the wall like we have in all the other rooms. Not to mention the plastic pipe from the switch down to the floor…

GjesteromBryterCollage

Luckily I have a super understanding husband, and he contacted the electrician about coming back to do the installment set into the wall.

The electrician will be back this coming Tuesday Open-mouthed smile

Friday, April 20, 2012

Follow up…it's free

Not long ago I did a post about all the free stuff available for expecting families here in Norway. Some I will get directly in the mail and some I have to bring a coupon and pick up at the store.
So I’ve picked up the two nappy disposal system directly from their stores.
From Babyshop I got this one:
Photo 16 03 29 20.04.12
And from Barnas Hus, this one:
Photo 16 02 45 20.04.12
Haven’t unpacked anything yet as I’m not sure where to put them. Was thinking of having one in the bedroom/nursery for the simple diaper changes. I’m considering having one in the bathroom, but not sure how the system will work standing on the floor heating 24/7. Imagining the bacteria thriving a little too well….
Also got the Babybox from Apotek1:
Photo 16 04 14 20.04.12The package consisted of (most of the tubes/bottles are “travel size”):
  • A bottle of 2 in 1 shower and shampoo
  • An issue of the magazine “Foreldre & barn”
  • A baby picture book
  • A baby body size 62
  • A packet of non-perfume baby wipes
  • Pampers diapers size 2 & 3
  • Avent disposable breast pads
  • Avent pacifier
  • MAM pacifier
  • A tube of Natuvive papaya smooth hand cream
  • A bottle of Sebamed shower oil
  • A bottle of Sebamed baby bubble bath
  • A tube of Dr Greve All-round cream
  • A tube of Bepanthen ointment
So now I have baby products I didn’t know I needed Hot smile Now all I need to find out is how I organize the nursery changing table….

Monday, April 16, 2012

It’s free…

Don’t know how many of my readers watch(ed) the Matt Groening series Futurama. but just have to share this little youtube clip when talking about free stuff
It’s free…
Being pregnant I have gotten a few tips from friends and family about the free stuff I should sign up for to the baby. So I thought I would share them here (sorry, but I think these are only available in Norway):
Well I think that is it…I’ll do an update post as I receive my packages.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Amazing Race, Norwegian style

Yesterday I saw a little reminder (aka billboard) on the season premiere of The Amazing Race, produced by the Norwegian TV channel TV2.

I’ve been a big fan of the US version of The Amazing Race for years and having a Norwegian version sounds entertaining.

The Norwegian version is hosted by former Norwegian football player Freddy dos Santos. Like the US version, there are 11 couples racing to the finish. Though the prize money is nothing close to the US version, which is 1 million US dollars cash, not to mention all the prizes for the winners of each leg. The Norwegian version is around valued up to a million Norwegian krone (the winners get not only cash, but also a car). In comparison, todays exchange rate 1.00 USD =  5.80161 NOK. In other words, nowhere close. But still it’s the challenge the contestants are there to experience, isn’t it???

So 8PM tonight I’ll be centered in front of our TV ready for the first episode. I look forward to watch how the stiff Norwegians handle the challenges the world has to offer…

Here’s a little video of the Norwegian contestants
http://tv2.no/v/602409
And some other clips from the show
http://www.tv2.no/play/underholdning/theamazingrace/

Follow The Amazing Race on Facebook
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Good luck contestants!

Monday, April 9, 2012

It's snowing!...again

Didn’t expect it would be snowing when I woke up this morning. It’s not many days ago since I posted about the first flowers showing up in my backyard. But living in Norway it’s not a total surprise…
Well with this kind of weather I guess I will be using our fireplace and curling up in the couch…and doing some crocheting. Hopefully I will done with the baby blanket I started on soon.
...feel warmer already...

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Connecting to Facebook

After finally giving in and signing up to Facebook I wanted to connect this blog to my Facebook account. I did some searching and the easiest way was no longer available due to layout changes within Facebook.

I did some more searching and concluded that using Networkedblogs it the way to go. To connect Facebook and Networkedblogs you need an account at both sites.

After setup, all my posts come automatically on my wall with a link to my blog…sweet!

SNAGHTML2bae6b16

For those of you who want to know how to connect your blog to Facebook using Networkedblogs. I did the following;
(- assuming you already have a Facebook and blog)
- create an account @ Networkedblogs (if you don’t already have one)
- Register a blog on Facebook
- Setup your Networkedblogs (you’ll need to verify that you are the author of the blog)

I think that was it…doing these kinds of setup right before heading to bed doesn’t help the memory. Sorry.

Just to be on the safe side, I’ll add a link to “someone” who knows that they are talking about: Winking smile
http://www.maine-seo.com/social-media/how-to-set-up-networked-blogs-on-facebook
or this one:
http://shesselfemployed.com/set-networkedblogs-facebook-fan-page/

Hope this was a helpful tip…enjoy!

To cut, or not to cut?

…that is the question I’m asking myself these days.

It’s been a while since I had my hair cut and now my hair is starting to show signs of wear and tear, breaking off easily and ends splitting up. Since it’s Easter almost everything here in Oslo is closed. So a visit to the hairdresser is out of the question. Since I haven’t had many great experiences with hairdressers in Oslo, I thought I would look into the option of cutting my own hair.

I took a look at cutting tips on Youtube and found the following videos:
http://youtu.be/f-GAilMmCqQ
http://youtu.be/hK1BcftdyaY
Both contained advice I found applicable to me…now the question I ask myself, to cut, or not to cut?

Friday, April 6, 2012

I finally gave in

After friends and family have been nagging me forever to join Facebook I finally gave in. What can I say? ….better late than never….

Thursday, April 5, 2012

One small step …

One giant step for our staircase…

CIMG5193

For some reason I got the idea in my head that we should start on the staircase. I’ve decided on white banister and stained steps. Like I posted as an option in my previous staircase post. Still not sure if we will be closing the staircase though…

And with almost a week off from work due to Easter, we started on the huge task of the top of the staircase…After several days of sanding and painting I realize that it’s gonna take more than a week to finish. Baby steps…and eventually we WILL finish.

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