Evening Job

Painting furniture for Isolde's room. First of three pieces (the other being a chest and a crib).



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7 Months 3 Weeks

BVC (Children's Health Centre) visit today. Isolde weighed in at 7,180 gr and measured 65 cm (I think she's taller but the nurse doesn't want to stretch the little ones too much). As Isolde is approaching 8 months (what?! already?!) the nurse checked a few physical (e.g. if Isolde was cross-eyed) and developmental (mostly by questions to me) things. She passed with flying colours. Next visit will be another routine check-up followed by the 10-month appointment with the doctor in November (previously at 2 and 6 months).

I also asked the nurse about blocked milk ducts and if it was okay - and whether it'd help - to take lecithin capsules that I learned about on Google (as you do). She told me that in some county councils (responsible for healthcare provision) it's prescribed for this very problem (among other things) and she thus recommended me to try them to help clear the ducts (however in Stockholm I had to go to the alternative medicine shop to buy them). Will let you know if they do the trick!

In other "Isolde news", she has just mastered both waving (a few days ago) and clapping her hands (today). She didn't really want to cooperate with the camera though so this is what you get!











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Chantarelles

Last night I cleaned and parboiled mushrooms and tonight I made some canapées (chèvre balls) for my dad's 60th tomorrow. Next project: pickle beetroot. Maybe on Sunday?!












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Reuse Reduce Recycle

The other day Isolde and I met up with another mother (with two kids only 11 months apart - don't know how she does it!) and exchanged a few items - I got two child development/rearing books and she some children's clothes. We "hooked up" through a Facebook group I've joined, Bortskänkes/bytes/mottages i 08-området, where people can swap things. No sales allowed, though people sometimes swap with lottery tickets and gift cards. Great stuff (compared to lots of other useless FB pages/groups)!

One of the admin people has set out rules and guidelines and created photo categories, so now the group is much more organised, a necessity with 20,000 members. But as always there are always someone who doesn't like something, complaining about admin "dictatorship" and the like. Sigh.


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Blockage

Arghhh! I have blocked/plugged milk ducts for the fifth time in a month! I didn't have any problems for six months (and the first two months of these were cold, cold winter month) and now I get it from the slighest breeze! It's so annoying! So far I've managed to cure it before it turns into mastitis (breast inflammation) but it's still painful (and affects me for 12-24 hours). I started getting it when I stopped breastfeeding during the day (I only nurse in the morning and the evening now) and no longer "use" the breast as much. As a result the breast doesn't fill up as much as before and when it's smaller it seems to be more sensitive. I try to wear a sweater outside but when it's a sunny and warm day I forget and don't think about the breeze. It's always my left breast that gets affected - it has always been my tender breast (especially in the beginning when the milk was almost overflowing) and the one Isolde has found more difficult to nurse from (at least the first two months; not sure why but maybe the cells in the right one are better?). I now have a white dot on my nipple, which is an indication of blockage, even when I don't have any pain or problems. I read that you can try to remove the white blister with a sterilised needle but that sounds a bit scary and possibly painful?!

Now I'm thinking that perhaps I should just stop breastfeeding altogether but on the other hand I know that Isolde could use a couple of months more of the good stuff! What to do?! Tips on how to prevent and alleviate are also welcome, in addition to what I'm already doing - applying heat and then nursing (or pumping), wearing a loose bra and trying to remember the breeze. I had put away the wool nursing pads because I thought they were mainly for winter weather but guess I have to wear them now when autumn comes...


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Song Book

Today we visited the city library's Rum för barn (Room for kids) for the first time (together with Tora and Ester) and I already know it's going to become a regular hangout for us. In addition to lots of books (of course, it being a library) it has a special area for babies and toddlers (bebisbibblan), which is very baby friendly with pillows and one of those sunken playpens (padded hole) where Isolde could practice standing up without risking hurting herself. Just when we were about to leave two of the librarians started singing and playing the guitar so we joined the ring for a while (would have stayed longer if we didn't have an appointment), which was popular with Isolde as well as Ester (not the girl in the picture).






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Sit N Ride

Isolde has graduated from the bassinet to the seat.





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iRepaired

Got the iPhone repaired yesterday. After two days with Peter's Blackberry I couldn't take it anymore. Figured I wouldn't last until October anyway so I could just as well cough up the money now.

In the last couple of years several places that fixes iPhones (and other smartphones/touchscreen phones but many are specialised in iPhones/iPads/iPods) have cropped up (well, not by chance; the opposite really as it's pretty good business! And they provide jobs to loads of young people.). I went to the cheapest place I could find in town , Iphonereparation.se, which charges 699 SEK. I think there are places in the suburbs that charge 500 SEK or even less but I didn't feel like going out there maybe only to find a dodgy phone shop?

It says on iPhonereparation's website that they fix your phone within 24 hours but the turnaround is actually two hours (and 30 minutes if you pay extra). You drop it off, get a receipt and then pick it up after two hours or later and pay upon pick-up. Efficient. They have a 90-day guarantee as well (which I assume doesn't apply if I drop it on the ground again but only if the new screen falls off or similar).

Once there I found out that if I promised to blog about them they'd give me a 10% discount (making the total 629 SEK). I jumped on the offer course. So if you've dropped your phone in the loo or cracked your screen like me, iPhonereparation is the place to go! :)

Isolde at 7 Months

Can't believe our little busfia is already 7 months old (almost a week ago, on 9 August)! Where did the time go?!

At seven months, Isolde:

• sucks her thumb often, and occasionally her toe. It's always the right-hand thumb. A month ago she sucked on both thumbs and also quite often her index finger (like her dad did when he was a baby) and it was a irregular activity for her; a lot one day and then not again for a few days, but now it's all the time. It gives her comfort when she finds something new a bit "scary" and it puts her to sleep in the evening and back to sleep in the middle of the night. She'll never lose it like a pacifier but I guess it will be harder to wean her in two-three years time... But that's then and now's now!


• at six months mainly wanted to sit still and play and fiddle with things - she can still entertain herself for quite some time though if she's in that mood - but now wants to stand up or practice crawling. It's far from crawling at this stage; she can creep backwards and she also does some sort of push-ups whereby she gets up on her toes and pushes her bum in the air. She hasn't succeeded in getting up on her knees yet though. She things it's more fun though to hold on to our thumbs and raise herself (no help) to standing, or to pull herself up in the pram by holding on to the sides (in the safety of a harness!). She wants to stand up almost all the time!


• still rode in the Bugaboo's bassinet until today when we changed to the seat (when we tried a few weeks ago we felt she was still too little and short and the seat harness was way too big). I had to buy a harness for the bassinet though since she has wanted to sit up for the past month and could potentially climb the sides and fall out.


• has a wonderful giggle and laugh. She loves it when we tickle her or pretend to scare her. She's still a very happy and content girl who hardly ever cries (mainly only at night and then it's mostly in her sleep (or she's half-awake) - we truly feel we've been blessed with such a sunshine girl!


• with some exceptions, is a good sleeper, often without much fuss from 8 or 9 pm to 5 am (if she goes to bed later she still wakes up at 5). After a feed she usually goes back to sleep for another two hours. Irrespective of whether we get up at 6, 7 or 8 am, she usually wants to play for 1-2 hours and then take a morning/AM nap (and mum usually sleeps then too). She usually sleeps an hour in the afternoon too. She often falls asleep during the evening feed but when she doesn't, she's pretty good at putting herself to sleep, however not without some whining and thumb sucking. This applies to nap time during the day too but then she's usually tired and wants us to leave her alone in her crib. Often she naps in the pram while we're out and about though. In her crib she sleeps like a banana with her face pushed into one of the corners. Or right across the bed.


• still flirts with strangers and hasn't shown any signs of separation anxiety yet but I assume it will come soon as she's at that age. The first few minutes she's usually studying the person though, sorting through her person file cabinet. But then it's like she found the right one and a smile appears.


• smiles for the camera and sometimes stops what she's doing to pose. A real linslus!

• doesn't have any teeth yet. We thought one was on the way a couple of weeks ago as she's had a couple of cranky days and nights. She was drooling and fiddling with her tongue a lot, but nothing. We'll probably know once the real teething does start though, as I understand it's quite tough for most babies. I've heard that the later the teeth break, the better, as they are stronger then but I don't know if that's correct. For me I don't mind if they wait as long as I'm still breast-feeding.


• can protest when she doesn't like something, for example when 1½ year-old Elvina was getting too close (but she was still intrigued of course). When she's "upset", as in not wanting to do something we want her to do, such as eat, or she's bored or tired and not happy with being left on the floor, for example, she groans and grunts rather than cries. And in between the groans, sucks her thumb :) She also grunts if we don't feed her quickly enough when she's hungry.

• kisses us in her own special way, which means an open mouth and lots of dribble on our cheeks or noses. She used to be more cuddly with me but since Peter started his holiday and has been with us 24-7, she's starting to be as cuddly with him.

• eats really well now after the sloooow start on solids. In the early hours she still breast-feeds but after 8am she eats oat cereal (usually around 9am) for breakfast. The next meal is lunch around 11am-12 noon. Dinner is between 4-5pm. At lunch and dinner she eats ½ to 3/4 of a jar of baby food followed by fruit purée (half a jar or half a banana or equivalent at the most). Between lunch and dinner she's served a snack, usually fruit and wafers with liver patée or cream cheese. Sometimes she also snacks between breakfast and lunch depending on when she eats breakfast, which in turn depends on when we get up in the morning... The food day is finished with oat cereal between 6-7pm and breastmilk an hour afterwards, roughly. At the moment it feels like all day is about feeding! Full-time nursing was so easy - we didn't have to keep track of the time and she could easily eat when she wanted, where she wanted. Now we have to remember to pack food, bibs, etc.

• talks a lot - although no words or anything near words except for perhaps hej (hi) - and with more melody in the language. She tries new sounds and noises and makes new faces almost every day. Sometimes she's babbling and looking at us intently like she's really trying to tell us something. She still blows bubbles and makes fart noises. Lately she's been doing it a lot when she's being fed, not because she doesn't want to eat but because it's more fun with food in her mouth I guess!

• is just such a little darling and hanging around her is like walking on sunshine every day. It's amazing to rediscover life and the world with her every day. We could not imagine how much we'd enjoy being with her and how strong the love for her is - because it is in a way stronger or at least different from what we feel for each other. It's so cool to see how she learns something new or develops in some other way, constantly - every day. It's like she's a new person every day and at the same time, the same personality that could be seen when she was a few hours old.

HP

Peter and I had some precious "us time" today. We left Isolde with her grandma farmor in the afternoon so that we could go and see the final Harry Potter movie. In 3D of course! Next on the agenda is a meal for two at a restaurant before summer is over.

Entourage

I hadn't seen a single episode* of Entourage until this summer when Peter started plowing through the series. At first I didn't like it but the more I watched it - difficult not to since Peter has seen several episodes a day (weather and other things dependent) - the more I liked it. So now I'm almost hooked as he is (though I don't mind if he watches an episode when I'm not home or busy doing something else). Now we're at season 6 out of 8.

* Though I know SVT shows it and had probably seen a few minutes of it here and there.

Cracked

My iPhone now looks something like this...


Have dropped it several times before without damage but today I was very unlucky as it landed on a tiny pebble. The touchscreen still works but I don't want to put it to my ear (the glass is sharp and shredding tiny pieces of glass) so it's useless for phonecalls! On the other hand I do have a handsfree so maybe I could live with it until October when iPhone 5 comes?! Peter has a Blackberry - the old crackberry before iPhone came along - he isn't using so I could also use that if I don't opt for getting the glass replaced. It is a rather expensive fix but I have found a place that does it for 650 SEK and I've heard there's an even cheaper place that charges around 500.

Lucky me we have an iPad too so I whatever happens I don't deal with my i-diction right now! ;)

Little Gymnast

Lucky Isolde - and us - that she's properly harnessed in the pram these days because when she's sitting up she doesn't want to sit but pull herself up with the help of the handle bars or the nappy bag. Why sit when you can stand?! Think it's time to change from the bassinet to the seat (we tried a month ago but felt she was too short and too little for the seat's unbuilt harness then).

7 Months!

I don't know where the time went but yesterday Little Miss Sunshine turned 7 months!





A post about Isolde at 6-7 months is under production and coming soon!

Leftovers

Made (lime parfait with) rhubarb compote for dessert the other day, and ended up with some excess fluid that contains, in addition to rhubarb; white wine, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Turns out that together with some gin and tonic it makes a pretty tasty drink! I'm sure it can be mixed with other things too but that's what I found in the bar cabinet here at the summer house.



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Flexible

Isolde sucks her thumb (she doesn't like pacifiers) but a toe can fulfil the same function just as well apparently.



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