Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thursday

Today was one of those days at work when you're taking it easy and looking forward to having some time off (only worked two days this week) and you're already in holiday mood when you realise that "oh, s**t, there's lots of stuff I need to finish before the end of the day and it's already 3 pm!". So I had to stay an extra hour (which is not that bad after all) but now I can relax until the next day in the office, 9 January.

In other news, Isolde has slept through the night for the first time in over six weeks! Last night she slept from 8pm to 5:20 and then in our bed until 06:45, and the night before, our first night back in the flat, from 8pm to 7am. If it's not a one-off, or two one-offs to be exact, it proves that we were disturbing her (and she us) when we were all sleeping in the same (tiny) room in our temporary accommodation (first my parents for 1 1/2 weeks and then Peter's parents for 3 1/2 weeks). The last two nights she's been in her own room (her new room, pictures coming soon!). The last six weeks have been really tiring with Isolde waking literally every night and often staying awake for 1-2 hours. Not what you need in general but especially not when you are working every day. She's had periods of irregular sleep before but never so long and so consistent. And those times one of us could go and sleep in a different room (the couch) but that wasn't possible at our parents (but we're so grateful we had somewhere to stay during the renovation!!).

So fingers crossed this new sleep pattern is a permanent one!

Monday, December 26, 2011

God fortsättning!*

I forgot to wish everybody a Merry Christmas here on the blog but maybe Boxing Day (where it's celebrated) is not too late to do it?!

Isolde is on the move now.  She stands without support and she has taken mini or semi-steps.  I wouldn't call them real steps but she's definitely almost there.  Will keep you posted!



* One of those expressions that is difficult to translate

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Secret Santa

One of the highlights of the year, Emma's Christmas Present Exchange, just took place.  My gift travelled to Karin in Åland (hope she has received it?!) and I received a package that had travelled much further.  Thanks Annika!

"Who are these jolly people?"

"Mummy, let's open this one first!"

"I like the Christmas ornament - and especially the bell inside - but mum likes the cards the best.  And the iPhone gloves will come in handy when I want to play Peekaboo Barn while out in my pushchair."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Isolde at 11 Months

Our soon-to-be-one-year-old girl...
  • can stand by herself for up to ten seconds.  Just yesterday she didn't want to practice even though she sometimes stood for two-three seconds but today it's like she found her balance and now she she's getting steadier and steadier.  Walking soon?!  She hasn't wanted to walk just holding one hand but maybe that will change now. 
  • has been very picky with her food lately. She doesn’t want to be fed but cannot work a spoon yet so dry finger food is what goes right now. To her dad’s frustration (and I'm secretely happy I don't have to deal with it every day). Fortunately she had still grown as much as she should when we checked last Friday.
  • weighs just over 8 kg (8,070 gr) and is 68.5 cm tall.
  • has started drinking välling (formula) in the evening but sometimes oat cereal is her evening meal, sometimes she has both (dinner is earlier around 4-5 pm).
  • doesn’t sleep very well at the moment. We usually have no problem putting her to bed in the evening but she wakes up several times from 1 or 2 am onwards and is sometimes awake for 1-2 hours. She still takes two naps a day, one in the morning and one after lunch but if she continues having trouble sleeping once we move back home we may need to shorten those or remove the afternoon nap. I think may be separation anxiety that only shows at night? Otherwise she’s her happy usual self during the day (except the food business).  Or it's just a phase.  Or it's because all three of us are cramped up in a small room (at Peter's parents, due to the renovation of our flat) right now.
  • wants to be up and in someone’s arms if we’re doing something, especially in the kitchen. Why stay down on the boring floor when you can observe what’s going on.  You might miss something otherwise.  It seems like she's very interested in cooking but maybe it's just because we spend quite a lot of time there (or especially her grandmother whom we've been staying with for a while)?
  • gives you books to read or the iPhone to open the picture book. The meowing cat is the favourite.  I love that she loves books so much already.
  • is a fast crawler nowayds and she never tummy crawls (ålar) anymore.  She often stands on her knees and watches, plays or holding up her hand to be picked up.
  • still thinks the baby swim lessons are fun and when we started again you could tell she had missed it. But this time the group is so big and she’s more interested in watching all the others than diving or practicing climbing out of the pool.
  • she has become more and more cuddly and shows affection by giving us nose kisses or wet kisses (mouth wide open).  In the morning she's busy playing but in the evening when I get back to work she wants to cuddle and she puts her head on my shoulder and sucks her thumb.
  • she got her first booboo a week ago at a playdate.  She walked into the door frame, cried for 30 seconds and Peter didn't think of more of it.  But in the evening we noticed a bruise on her forehead, a small one but it took a few days to disappear.
  • is impossible to change because she doesn’t stay still, not even if you give her an exciting toy, which makes especially no 2 changes a bit tricky to say the least.
  • waves goodbye.   She has understood the word vinka (wave) and you don't have to actually do it yourself for her to start waiving.
  • sticks her tongue out half-way when's she doing something.  It's like she concentrating and being mischievous at the same time.  Very cute!
  • still has just two teeth.  I sometimes wonder if she'll ever get more?!
  • talks a lot but no real words yet except där (there), which she says almost all the time, pointing to things or taking up a thing to show us.  But she doesn't say mamma or pappa more than a month ago.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Show & Tell: Saint Lucia

Friday's Show & Tell theme was Saint Lucia, a Swedish holiday (one of the most cherished and celebrated?), and since it's always on 13 December, today, I figured I'd wait until today to write my post.  But turns out that I don't have much to tell.  Or show.  We didn't dress up Isolde in a Lucia gown or as a little Santa's helper - she couldn't care less of course - and slept through the Lucia celebrations on telly this morning.  Some years we've been treated to a little Lucia performance at work but this year (and last) there were no willing singers.  We did meet for a quick glögg in the afternoon though but turnout was small, as many of my colleagues with children had already left for their children's Lucia celebrations at pre-school or school. Next year will be very different though I suspect because then it will be Isolde's first real Lucia, first real Christmas, etc.  Bring it on!  But until then, some calm!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Little Friends

Two tired and serious-looking girls on the rocking choo choo train but they did have fun together even though it may not look like it in the picture :)

Friday, December 09, 2011

11 Months!

How did almost a whole year pass already?!  Crazy!

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Sleeping in Gothenburg

I am in Gothenburg on business and I don't know what I'm looking forward to the most, the prospect of interrupted sleep* for one night or two hours Christmas shopping tomorrow after my meetings have finished... Irrespectively I should probably turn off the lights now, as it's 10:30 pm and I need to get up by 7 am the latest.


* Isolde has had trouble sleeping lately.  She has no difficulties turning in sometime between 7 or 8 pm but then wakes up every night between 2 or 4 am, usually around 2, and then doesn't want to go back to sleep for at least 1½ hours... Don't know if it's a phase or because we're not in our own home or due to other changes in her life (me going back to work).  She's her usual happy-go-lucky self during the day though - except that she's picky with her food right now - so I think it's probably a phase. 

Monday, December 05, 2011

Promenading

If we didn't already have a Bugaboo (or weren't  happy with it, which we are) I'd consider getting a Phil & Ted Promenade.  It's similar to the Bugaboo in many ways, not as ugly as the iCandy for example, reminds me of Brio Go (but better-looking) and has some features that are lacking on Bugaboo - it's fully collapsible and have much more (storage) space under the bassinet/seat, to name just two.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Shop 'til You Drop

Isolde just remembered she never showed you what she bought for herself on our US trip. She didn't realise it while she was busy shopping but there was a certain blue theme.  Matches her beautiful blue eyes though!

Striped onesie, two tees from OshKosh and a polo blouse from Ralph Lauren (RL) to the left and three dresses from Tommy Hilfiger (TF) to the right. 

Knitted sweater from RL, two leggings from RL and one pair of soft, leggings-type trousers from TF to the left and three blouses, top one from TF and the bottom two from RL, to the right.

Hat from TF, blue Toms (one pair for you, one for a child in need somewhere) and red Converse.

Friday, December 02, 2011

Show & Tell: The December of My Dreams

I thought I'd jump on the Show & Tell train again.  Annika is hostess for the month of December and she has given us five seasonally appropriate topics :)


2 December - The December of My Dreams.  The hostess has assisted with some questions: what would the ultimate month of December be like for you? Maybe you want to skip everything to do with Christmas?  Or would you go away?  Or do you want to maximise Christmas [like Annika herself]?  Tell us!

9 December - Saint Lucia

16 December - Half-year check.  A Show & Tell tradition where we show what happened July-December.

23 December - The day before Christmas.  What do you most look forward to?  What food would you not want to be without?  What traditions must be there for you to call it Xmas?

30 December - Thoughts for the new year





I'm going to be very "right now" in my post today.  I'm not really going to answer Annika's question but just tell what's on my mind right now:


My dream this December will be that our kitchen (and the rest of the flat, but that work will be much quicker in comparison) will be ready by Christmas!  And with a few days left until Christmas so we can make it Christmassy and cosy.  And I hope that we can actually move back (staying with Peter's parents right now) next weekend so that we can start unpacking and decorating, both design-wise and Christmas-related.  Peter's parents are not too much for that sort of stuff, not for Advent at least, so the don't even have a single advent light up (just four real candles).  I'm quite minimalist in terms of Advent and Christmas decorations but I want at least one advent light in each room/window.


Even if the kitchen will take right up to Christmas (and maybe longer because the stone counter that we've ordered might not be fitted until after New Years), it looks like our bedroom will be ready any day (though it's next to the kitchen so we'll be sleeping in Isolde's room for the remainder of the works) and next they will wallpaper the living room and the hallway.  So it's getting there.  I can't wait to see it all ready, or even part ready. 


I don't know if I ever told you what wallpaper we chose in the end... so here is hopefully what our bedroom will look like!  Though the bedroom picture shows another colour combination than the one we chose, the one in the first picture (Ludlow from Cole & Son). 






For the living room we chose a wallpaper in white with stripes with three different widths but unfortunately I don't have a photo yet (Décor Maison). 


Have a nice weekend!


Thursday, December 01, 2011

Cottage Cheese* Music

Maybe this is already old to most people but I just discovered Erato!



* They are drumming on Swedish cottage cheese boxes

Hard Currency?

Someone broke into our basement and stole a screw gun and Bugaboo winter wheels.  Not the DVD or other bits and bobs.