the sun

I had a look at the weather yesterday and noticed that they had a little info-thingy that said that the sun came up at 8.37 in the morning and set at 3.28 in the afternoon. No wonder I'm tired....I work during all those ours of daylight!!!!!
But soon enough it will turn around again....sometimes I wonder why I live this far north!

Belgium and back

I just came back from a mini-vacation to Belgium over the weekend. My sister and I went to visit a friend of ours who lives there and just had her second child 4 months ago. It was great to see the whole family again! Little Annabel is adorable! Kasper, her older brother, is great with her and is very social and talking like crazy....we didn't understand a thing but he had a lot to tell us :-)

First I took the train down to my sister's place and spent the night. Then we got up at 4.15 am and drove to Copenhagen (takes about 2 hours). From there we took a plane to Brussels, where Kersti and Annabel greeted us and took us home to Bertem outside of Leuven.

We had a great time, but it was actually a bit colder there than it was in Sweden and that surprised us.
We went to one famers market in Heverlee and one big Christmas market i Brussels. We also had a day to browse the shops in Leuven. And of course we spent a lot of time talking and cooking and playing with the children. Just a really great time.

And coming home, it was wonderful to see J och D again...of course! It was a time-out I really needed.....And now it's back to work.

lately...

...I've been doing...nothing. Well working counts I guess. So that's my update.
Oh and last week I went to the gym and did some yoga at home for the first time.
This weekend I'm trying to rest as much as one can when parenting a 1,5-year-old. :)

This coming weekend I'm going to Belgium to see a friend who had her second child 3 months ago. I'm going with my sister that I don't get to see often enough, so that's great.

PARTY

We had a great house warming party yesterday (no kids!) :). About 20-30 people (we didn't count), both co-workers and friends and family. We started at 6 pm and the last ones left at about 1.30 am.
It was a great mix of people and we had all kinds of food and sweets and snacks. It was a lot of fun; I can't even remember the last time we had a party.
But now I'm exhausted and it seems that little Julia did catch our cold and cough after all :(

ER

I have to start out by saying that it's not as bad as the title implies....just so you know grandma :)

Julia and I spent 3 hours at the hospital waiting to see a doctor about her eye. She fell and, I think she got poked in her left eye by a twig on a bush. But I don't know for sure because I wasn't close enough to see. She lost her balance and fell forward and there was this bush...anyway.
When we finally saw the doctor the eye had no serious injury so all is well. Imagine trying to examine a 1,5 year old's eye.. . .AFTER she's spent 3 long hours in a boring waiting room and didn't get her nap!!!! But as usual she was in good spirits, charming everybody around her. Precious Julia.....

shopping for Julia

Wow, today I had the experience of a lifetime! Who knew that shopping could cause you to sweat like that. I was completely soaked when we were done. :)
First we bought some snow shoes/boots - now J never sits still so here she was in the store running around playing peekaboo. She got to try on (ie run around in) two pairs of shoes and it was hard trying to keep her from setting off the alarm system. :) Well one down, one to go.
Then we went to get her some warmer winter-wear. First taking off her coat, ,then trying on an overall that was to big. Get a smaller size while she was running all over the place and trying on the smaller size too. And then chase after her to get her in the stroller again so I could pay....

All this took less than an hour, but it felt like a marathon!! Actually I shouldn't complain, she behaved really well and was happy most of the time and didn't throw a tantrum. (She has started throwing tantrums now, occasionally.)
Also, just this last week, she has started sleeping only once during the day and sleeps for two hours in the middle of the day.

Tomorrow, I'm having a bit of time to myself while D and J are going to church in the morning. I will have time to sort out my life so to speak :) ...which means get all my stacks of paper in order!

Good night!

Jobb

Det var jobbigare att börja jobba än vad jag trodde det skulle vara. Jobbar ju halvtid nu ett tag efter mammaledigheten och känner mig rätt så splittrad.
Har ingen tid att tänka efter och hinna ikapp mig själv. Kan ju också bero på att vi mitt i alltihop flyttade också. Ska nog inte göra så många förändringar samtidigt nästa gång.

Men det är härligt när man är hemma också. Det händer så mycket m Julias utveckling hela tiden. Varje dag något nytt. Hon fick nya stövlar igår så nu kan vi vara ute igen när det regnar.

Mot slutet av månaden skall en kompis gifta sig så det ska bli roligt. Och eventuellt ska jag och min syster åka till Belgien en helg och hälsa på en annan kompis.

J börjar bli lite otålig nu så jag måste sluta. ha en bra dag!

summer heat

Summer is here and it's great - especially when you have a chance to enjoy it!
I'm out at the country house on the west coast of Sweden enjoying this perfect summer weather. Swimming, walking, resting, playing, reading a bit, although reading is a bit hard with a 14 month old baby to keep track of. :)

Yesterday we took J swimming with her life west, just to try it out. She thought it was fun for the most part. And today I bought a new bikini and some flip flops for J to wear when she splashas around in the water on the beach, to prevent her from cutting her feet on the sharp sea shells.

At home, my husband is packing and preparing for us to move to our new apartment. Isn't life unfair?! ;-) (love you, D)
Hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer as well.

Svenne

An American - someone very dear to me - got the official papers today stating that he got his Swedish citizenship. The document was dated July 4th - isn't that irony!! :) Heja Sverige!

"Midsommar on a train"

I have just come home from having spent two days with my sister and brother-in-law in their lovely house..with a garden!! We went down there for 'midsommar-firande'. We have had gorgeous meals and desserts :) - just hanging out. Yesterday we went in to see some dancing and hear folk music and get the genuine feeling for the day. It was a great day, with just a tiny mishap (but I won't bore you with that).

We went by train. Being on a train with a 1-year-old is quite the experience. For one, you get to walk around a lot. Secondly, and most amazingly, you make all kinds of friends! I say it again, kids are better than dogs when it comes to talking to people you don't know, and might never have talked to , if it hadn't been for the child at you side.

Anyway, J gets smiles and laughs, radiant with love and acceptance, everywhere she goes. And today it struck me like lightning - what if every single human being on the whole planet got a smile like that every time they meet another human being? It probably would make the world a better place and at least one war less to fight.

I once heard a speaker, who happened to be a doctor, say that an infant is loved just for the simple fact that it's alive. Think about it - when you meet other people you make instant judgements about them based on how they talk, what they wear and what they do for a living and you do it in a split second. This might sometimes take you to the conclusion that you don't like somebody based on these shallow observations, without having exchanged a single word with this person. But with an infant it's different. Funny creatures, these homo sapiens....
When God speaks of us being just like a child, maybe this is it?! That we should also see others like God's children, loving them for that reason only.

Well this post is longer then intended. Have a good night and hope you all have had a good weekend.

Dofter

Well, her I am. I know I haven't posted anything for a while but I've been busy with...well life!
Being in a new place always takes a toll on you for the first period of adjustments. And here everything smells different and everything actually is scented it seems - even diapers, garbage bags and well, you name it! It's different from home.

But I'm having a great time, seeing family and new family members I haven't met before. Today I've been to this big mall, it was great. We had a great Mexican meal and could actually enjoy the meal because the timing was perfect - little J was sleeping for an hour during the meal!! At least sometimes you do something right. :)

clinging

J has never been this clingy before! I guess it's the big change in her life - new environment with unfamiliar smells and sounds etc. I can't even take two steps away from her. And today she has a bit of a fever and a cold. Hope she doesn't get an ear infection.

It's raining today and we're adjusting pretty well. We've been out on walks everyday to get some sunlight. The weather has been nice, except for today. But I guess the rain is also needed. The world around us will fell so much more alive and fresh after rain. The smells are so much more intense. I like it actually, so I should stop complaining.

D, you'll get you stuff monday afternoon :)

Hope you are all doing well.

Walking and bicycles

Well, all of a sudden J started walking a bit on her own! Yesterday she managed to take 12 steps by herself...and I was cheering her on. You can tell it makes her happy.

And today I bought myself a bicycle. Hurra!! Paying for it in full tomorrow - not as much fun :)

under water

Today, I went swimming with J and her grandma Y, in order to have under-water photos taken of J diving etc. Unfortunately, today she wasn't very keen on diving but they took some pictures of the two of us from under the surface. I hope they turn out.

2 step

Today J took her first couple of steps all by herself - no hands!!!!
Amazing to see the progress.....in a months time she has learned to first crawl and now she's almost walking. No wonder she's been a bit cranky! :)

animals

This is my family:

Anna the Aimable Albatross
Dewitt the Dopey Dingo
Tamie the Timid Tadpole
Julia the Jovial Jaguar
Bev the Beautiful Bumblebee
Jerry the Joyful Jiraffe
Karin the kantancerous Kangaroo
Anders the ambitious aligator
etc

Don't feel left out if you didn't make the list...my imagination ran dry :) Got the idea from a CD J got from D. Childrens songs with titles like "Rita the Cheetah", "Horace the Hysterical Hyena" and "Bongi the Boisterous Buffalo".

Anyway, it was just one of these silly things you do on a Saturday afternoon when entertaining an 11-month old girl (honestly, I probably had the most fun..)

SWING

Yesterday J had her first trying of a swing...and she loved it!! We've had beautiful pre-spring weather here lately, but the wind is still pretty chilly.
Well, who cares when the cherry trees are all in blossom!!! I love the spring. And we got J her first pair of sandals today and some new toys - all second hand.
Second hand is great, especially for babies. I mean, they don't really wear out their clothes.

Well, gotta go back to dinner. J didn't refuse lunch today - horray!

The business of being born

A few weeks ago I went to a showing of a documentary about giving birth in the US. It's called "The business of being born", check out the website here.

The documentary focus on the fact that women in the States (probably true about some other places too) are forgetting about how to give birth(and the fact that it's natural and has been done for ever!) and don't actually have time for it. In New York City, one of the hospitals have 50 % C-sections of all the babies they deliver - a lot of woman want to schedule so they know when to have the baby and want as little pain as possible. They interviewed some medical students (I think they were training to be obstetricians) and they had never seen a natural birth!!
One doctor they talked to said that C-section is very "doctor friendly" - 20 minutes and it's done.

In the States it's got a lot to do with liability too. So they monitor in every way they can, to be double-sure. In the process, unfortunately they forget about the mother and baby. For example, giving birth in a hospital you'll be on your back because it's the best position for the staff, not actually the best and most helpful position for the mother.
Also they said that even though the US is a developed country with high and advanced technology they have almost the highest rate of babies dying at birth of any other developed country in the world!!! Now that is scary!

I'm rambling, but if you have a chance you should see this documentary, because I might not have gotten all the facts right in this post.

Good night

Life with a toodler-to-be

Well, J is soon a toddler. Perhaps she'll start walking before we leave for the States. It's a wonderful life - right now for example she refuses to eat anything but oatmeal and fruit and bread! And she's started trying out her balance, letting go for a while. Standing there, she looks like a surfer. :)
More later about our jewel!

Mördarsniglar och flip flops

April är här och mars avslutades med snö - till min förtjusning måste jag nog ändå säga. Hoppas alla mördarsniglarna dog! :)

Today D has had some time to himself and J and I have been out and about doing the town! We went shopping. J got a bathrobe and I got to dream a bit about buying new clothes. Or maybe I should just forget about new clothes and make it easy for myself and do what our local hippie does - he just wears the same outfit all year round, including flip flops (even in the winter - thats' hard core).

Well I don't feel like I have the creativity to write anymore about my day.This is it. Good night.

Yoga

Have you ever tried yoga? I had my first yoga experience this past Friday and it was great! (iyengaryoga is what I did) What a good work-out! If you haven't tried it you should.
You will stretch muscles you didn't even know you had. My feet hurt the must afterwards, which is not what I expected.
So find a class and try it out - I'm going back tomorrow for another class :)

news (at least for me...)

On the news yesterday, they said that is was 95 years ago since Easter was this early. And the next time will be in about 152 years!!!! Pretty cool that I got to be part of it! :)

I also found out that yet another friend is having a baby, due in September, her second child! It makes you start thinking...but just thinking!!! ;) Have a good day everyone!

Good Friday (Långfredagen)

This is a first...I have never had my birthday on good friday ever! But it happened this year.

My day has been good. Started out with breakfast in bed with a giggling 10 month-old daughter! She gave me a present and my beloved had made me American biscuits!! (Keep in mind that this was 8 in the morning - very ambitious!)
In the evening my beloved and my brother-in-law made a great meal for me and my sister and my mom.
And the big happening of the day - Ice skating World Championships!! We went to see the ice dance/freedance event. It was great fun! For those of you who don't know by now, France won the gold, Canada silver and Russia got the bronze.
I'm off to bed! Night night.

expecting....

Found out that a friend of mine is expecting a baby in September. That makes me think of my own pregnancy and how, just a year ago, I had no idea what to expect. I felt as well prepared as I could be, but I don't ever think you fully grasp it all until the baby arrives and you start living with this new person every day. It's amazing how, just after a few weeks, it feels like this new person has always been at your side.
You forget so quickly - about the nausea and the swoolen feet and cramps in your calves in the middle of the night.

It's the best the thing that's ever happened to me and also the biggest challenge in your life - only in a good way! :)

shaky legs...

Well, I caught some bug yesterday and I am not feeling well. And a fever too....Well that's it - luckily, my aunt came over with some groceries and took J for a walk so I could rest. Thank God for family!! I don't have the energy to write anymore - maybe in a few days.

Adrenalin

Today was eventful - no less than two 911 calls! I think it's a record. But no need for ambulance so no worries. J got a reaction when eating eggs. Since this has happened twice before (not due to eggs though, at least not the first time), I knew what would happen and that it would be over after 20-30 minutes. And it was. But it's still a bit scary and the adrenaline is pumping. I feel just as exhausted as J.

After that she slept for an hour and a half! I guess her adrenaline was pumping as well. And now she refuses to nap. Back to the grindstone...:)

Welcome to D's world : )

Well, here I'm, in the world of blogs. I never thought it would come to this....
I will probably write in Swedish most of the time (I think), so all you English speakers out there have to forgive me.

I went swimming with J and D today. Wonderful but tiring. She's getting really good at it and laughed through the 30 minutes in the water! Grandpa E also came to watch and admire her. We tried diving too and she did so twice - but after that she decided not to do it anymore. She just sat there and looked at me while I tried to persuade her to get into the water! I tried everything; soft silly voice, toy, big smile etc, but nothing worked. Smart girl...:)
And on Tuesday we're at it again...three times in a week...hopefully this might make her forget all about teething.