Friday Gallery: Big and Small

The whole text I had written just disappeared! Stupid app! :( So now this is a teaser photo only and I will rewrite text tomorrow because now it's bedtime.

Girly Week(end)

Peter whisked off to the airport in the wee hours of today to visit a friend in Israel for a few days so Isolde and I are on our own until Sunday evening.  Isolde's pre-school happens to be closed tomorrow and Friday for teachers' planning days so I've taken some leave and we have lots of fun things planned for the next few days, including the weekend.

• Tomorrow Thursday we're meeting up with Malin and little rocker Jack for shopping and lunch in Skärholmen (I may pop over to Ikea if Isolde is in the mood afterwards).
• Friday my mum and aunt (who's visiting from the west coast) are coming into town for shopping, lunch and fika, and they will also watch Isolde while I go to see my midwife*.
• Saturday we go down to Södertälje in the morning and Isolde gets to spend the day with her grandparents (my parents) and my aunt while I go to see my good ol' girlfriends for a day of chatting, eating and massage (the massage therapist is coming to my friend's home). 
• Sunday we head back home after spending the night at my parents and have nothing definite planned for the rest of the day.   However, the first Sunday of the month is usually when we try to meet up with our parent group (mummy group that turned into a daddy group when the fathers took over).  Weather permitting it's the park and otherwise an indoor alternative (I think I'll invite them here for fika).

* First visit since the initial visit, except for the two scans.  When it's your second child they don't need to see you until towards the end of the second trimester (week 26 or 25+4 on Friday), unless you wish to see them before then or there are medical reasons for extra check-ups.

Friday Gallery: Books

I have hardly read anything this year. The list of read books on my blog is the shortest ever and I should be ashamed. Not sure what happened. I've always been an avid reader. Well, I do know what happened. I blame a combination of smart phone ownership (and all those blogs out there I want to read, as well as Facebook), motherhood, work and too many magazine subscriptions.

So what's the cure? I don't really want to give up those other things either. I really like actual books and having a library at home so I don't want to stop buying real books but I'm starting to seriously consider asking Santa for an eReader this year. What's more important? The experience of reading or having a full bookshelf that looks good in the living room? The former. Really. I could always continue to buy the books I like the most so I have them IRL too.

Having an eReader is no guarantee for me actually reading of course but since it's at least thinner and probably also lighter than a book I'd be more prone to keep it in my handbag. What do you think?

Hormones

I'm not the kind who seems that affected by the extra pregnancy hormones in my body in terms of mood swings or temper problems (ask Peter, he will confirm), but I'm very close to tears several times a day.   There's so many sad - or happy - triggers out there...

• Reading brief headline on the front page of one of the tabloids about family tragedy where a depressed dad killed his son and himself
• Seeing an obituary for someone who has died too young
• Hearing a teenage boy read a poem about his late mum whom he still wanted to tell so many things
• Getting a brief cuddle by Isolde before she whisks off to her toys in the other room
• Listening to a speech on the vision and values of Fryshuset regarding the young people they work with (check out their latest initiative, to be launched on 4 December)

And that's just today.  I have become much more emotional in general due to age and also since I became a mother, but the pregnancy is adding an extra layer of emotions.

Isolde at 22 Months

Time for an update on the adventures of Isolde!  At 22 months, she...

• can count 1, 2, 3, 4, but mostly just to 3.  She obviously hasn't understand the concept of counting for real yet but she's learned the pattern.
• doesn't say that many completely clear words but some three-word sentences like "ut och gå" (go out for a walk). 
• has had her first "serious" illness and was precribed antibiotics for an ear infection.
• hogs the slide together with little friend A at pre-school. 
• wants us to play the same two songs all the time and she does her standard dance moves.  Gotye's "Somebody that I Used to Know" is the favourite and the other one is Alizée's "J'en ai marre" but Peter says she doesn't like it as much anymore.  But when we play Gotye it's "igen" and "igen" and "igen" (again).
• likes to draw and does it several times a day.  She had a period of making dots but has now started making circles, which I guess is the first step to figuratives.
• has an irregular sleeping pattern.  It takes 30 minutes to put her to sleep most nights instead of perhaps 10 minutes before.  And she still wakes up around midnight and it's tiring to get her to go back to sleep in her own bed so she almost always sleeps with us.
• likes walking to and from pre-school and holding the frame of the pushchair.  I think those that walk when they go to the park with the pre-school group have to hold onto the prams, so she's following the "routine" :)
• throws little tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants but they are not that bad (yet) - short high-pitch screaming - and you can still talk her out of it quite easily by distracting or giving her something else to do and preferably a choice as well.  She just wants to be in control and make her own choices I guess.  Within safe and sound limits set by us of course.
• favours daddy but not to the extent that she gets upset when he leaves or that she minds if she and I part from daddy if we're out and about and he's off to another shop or what have you.  But she asks about him a lot when he's at work or with friends and there's a lot "pappa, pappa, pappa".
• is interested in all body parts and points to every limb and wants us to say what it is; nose, mouth, knee, toe, etc.  And then she tries to say them herself.
• is a bit more interested in stuffed animals now and sometimes wants to take one or more to bed. 
• takes off her nappy and wants to run around naked.  But doesn't tell us before she needs to pee even though we try to keep a check on her.
• says "hej då" (bye) all the time and to everyone and to everything.  Even when she makes sandcakes at the playground, she waves goodbye to them before destroying them.
• likes to cuddle and kisses and hugs us a lot and she likes sitting close on the sofa or in bed.  She also likes sitting or standing behind me when I sit on the sofa, with me leaning on her.  It's a "game" she wants to play every night.
• plays at the sink almost every day when we cook dinner and there's always a bit of a puddle of water in the kitchen afterwards.  She loves taking baths and she's started "swimming" with her tummy down in the tub. 
• likes being chased around the flat and is starting to play hide-and-seek.  She hid in the space between the bookcase and the corner the other day and I passed by her twice without spotting her.  But now I know her secret hiding place :)

Secret Santa is Back

Emma has launched this year's Secret Santa.  Visit her blog for more details (in Swedish) or send the following details to her email:

- Name and address
- Blog url (if you have a blog; not required)
- Three wishes / things you like
- Three things that are not you
- If you participated last year, include who you sent to and received from respectively so you don't get the same person again :)

Let Emma know by 25 November if you want to participate.  The gift has to be sent before 5 December and the value is around 100 SEK.

This will be the fourth year I participate.  Here's last year's account, 2010 and 2009.

Bring on Christmas season!

Friday Gallery: Buttons

Victoria's third theme for November is buttons.  Remote controls can be quite tricky and so can modern microwaves and (induction) cookers.  So Peter has prepared a "baby-sitter's guide" for our less techy baby-sitters (usually our parents - and especially his parents...).  We actually have a third remote that we use, which combines to two in the lower picture, but since it took me a while to learn how it works (and I still forget many of its functions that I don't use very often) we figured it would be too difficult for occasional sitters :)

I don't know how to turn this picture around!  It looks fine on my computer but then Blogspot rotates it *argh*

Friday Gallery: My Favourite Room

Victoria has chosen "My favourite room" for this week's theme. I like all rooms in our home - and I promise to show you more of our home later - but if I have to pick one it will have to be our living room because that's where we finally have some curtains in place. Just a year and a half after moving in. Well, 10 months since our renovation was complete - we never planned to put any up before then. It's difficult to choose fabric and then find the time to sew when you have lots of other things to do, and sometimes not the inspiration. Luckily my mum helped me start and a few weeks after our first sewing session I finished them. It's not the exact pattern I was looking for but it will do until I found the right one. 6 metres of this fabric only cost me 150 SEK so it was a bargain anyway. I haven't taken any nice shots of the curtains yet but this photo of Isolde convalescing on the sofa shows the pattern and colour at least. We have to buy some new pillows that match because I moved the cerise one for our bedroom. Once we have new pillows the room will feel properly finished.

I have sewn curtains for the kitchen too (and am very proud over the fact that I managed to buy the fabric in France using only my rusty French) but will show them some other time.

Have a nice weekend! Except for some family activities (e.g. my brother's birthday) we will be resting all weekend so that Isolde will get well from a stubborn virus that has now turned into an ear infection and I from the cold I've caught from her and a migraine that started yesterday :(

Friday Gallery: Cooking

Victoria is the new hostess for Friday Gallery for November and her first theme is "cook food" (laga mat). 

For a few weeks we've been trying out what it's like to subscribe to a food service (matkasse) and so far we're very satisfied customers.  We've tested both of the two biggest Swedish providers, Middagsfrid and Linas matkasse (now also available in the UK), and both are really good, but Middagsfrid is top notch.  It's a bit more expensive but also provides more organic and less frozen ingredients, and  it is slightly tastier and has more exciting recipes.  So Middagsfrid is the one we will continue with.  Their recipes are perhaps slightly more complicated (i.e. takes more time to cook) than Lina's but that's alright with us.

We both enjoy cooking and what's great about these recipe bags is that we still get to cook but without the hassle of having to come up with ideas and actually going food shopping (except for breakfast and other basic supplies).  And since they only provide ingredients for five meals we still get to use our own creativity two days a week.  That said, since we subscribe to a four-serving bag, we get enough to eat leftovers for several days, though we usually opt to bring it to work for lunch. 

With the 895 SEK it costs for a week, we've actually been saving money in total as we don't have to buy lunch every day (well, I used to bring leftovers most days before but Peter would usually buy) and we don't end up buying unnecessary stuff at the supermarket.  So money well worth spending in my view!  And it saves times too of course, time that can be spent on other things (including blogging, ha ha) and others (like Isolde). 

One of the weekly vegetarian dishes: oven roasted root vegetables, halloumi, tomato and red onion salad, with houmus and garlic sauce.

One of the weekly fish dishes: haddock cooked in the oven with rice and peas

Victoria's themes for the rest of the month is:
9 November: My favourite room
16 November: Buttons
23 November: Books, books!
30 November: Big and small

All for Children

A couple of weeks ago Miss Marie recommended a look at H&M's All for Children collection for UNICEF. Of course I couldn't help myself and a few clicks later...

The garments in the first picture is all from the collection and in the second picture the black and grey cardigan is, whilst the rest is H&M's regular collection.