Spinning Fun

Smell that Baby

I wish there was a way to bottle that newborn baby smell! Wouldn't it be great if you could keep it in a jar and have a quick sniff once in a while! So far the little guy still has that smell - especially his head - so I'm making the most of it and getting my daily dose. I want to stop time and stay in this moment forever. They grow up so quickly but I'm going to try not to think about that and instead live in the moment.

Friday Gallery: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Annika's last theme for the month of February (who's taking over in March??) is A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

It wasn't difficult for me to find a picture (well, two pictures actually) to illustrate this week's theme.

The Girl Effect

It's not a new project but this video has just done its rounds on Facebook (again?) and I wanted to share it here.

 


I've also been crying (those new baby hormones...) at Swedish Save the Children's child poverty campaign, Fattigskolan, about poverty in Sweden.  Yes, it does exist.  It's all relative of course so poverty in Sweden is not necessarily about access to clean water and food on the table (although sometimes it could be the latter too of course).

 

Four at Home

A little update. The little guy is one week old today and we've been home since Saturday (Peter left the hospital on Thursday to go home and take care of Isolde who'd been staying with her grandparents, while I stayed for another two days with the baby).

We're slowly getting used to having a baby in the house again and to life as a family of four. Isolde is adjusting really well. She's still a bit perplexed, especially in the morning or when she comes home from nursery, like she's thinking "oh, he's still here?" and she still sometimes asks "what's/who's that?" At the same time she's really sweet with him; wants to touch and kiss him and goes and gets nappies for him and worries about his socks having fallen off. She's a bit jealous and wants to sit with me when I feed him and preferably cuddle with me at the same time and wants daddy to pick her up too if he's holding him.

Since I had a relatively easy delivery this time (more on that later) it doesn't feel like I gave birth a week ago. Already the second or third day in the hospital I wasn't even feeling sore anymore (apologies for the details). I do suffer from some fatigue from nightly feedings, which hasn't been helped by a migraine over the last two days (evidence that my body is not yet completely in balance of course). I was also a bit optimistic when I upon return home thought I could get into my old jeans. Haha, no, my tummy wasn't THAT flat yet so pregnancy jeans it is for a bit longer, me thinks.

We haven't done much yet except had the first sets of visitors. Yesterday I went back to the hospital (it was a bit weird to go on my first outing by myself with him even though it was just a short car ride) for his hearing test (which was fine) but otherwise Peter has been running the errands while I've been breast-feeding and resting at home. The nurse from the Child Health Centre (BVC) made a house call yesterday so we didn't have to go outside again but on Thursday we'll go there for another weigh-in. We have to keep a close check on his weight in the beginning so we've bought some formula to give him if necessary. But so far he's not managing to drink much out of the bottle we have so we'll buy another one tomorrow that has more flow. I'm really happy that breast-feeding hasn't been a problem this time either - I know so many people who have struggled in the beginning - especially considering some preemies have problems suckling, but luckily not this one.

Time for the last feed of the night - will write more later!

Friday Gallery: Water (and longing)

Missing my little swimmer at home and looking forward to seeing her tomorrow and introducing her little brother.

Lillebror!

He surprised us with arriving four weeks early last night (12 February)! All is well but we have to stay at the hospital a couple of nights extra so they can keep an eye on him and make sure he gains weight (or doesn't lose too much, as most newborns usually lose some in the beginning). He's already nursing well but we have to supplement with formula in the beginning.

Birth weight 2,8 kg and length 47 cm. Looks a lot like his sister but perhaps more and darker hair. Name still under discussion :)

Will write later about the delivery but it was much quicker and easier than last time and I already feel partly recovered. Just still a bit surprised! What happened to my five weeks' of being lady of leisure before the due date?! Only got one week! ;-)

Friday Gallery: In My Neighbourhood...

Annika's second theme for the month of February is In my neighbourhood (or environment/surroundings).  I thought I'd illustrate it with photos in my phone (and taken by me) that would fit the theme.  Let's start from above...

Stockholm is my home

We're very fortunate to live near Gärdet and Djurgården so nature is never far away even though we live in the city, and this is also where I work

We can walk in the direction of "town" and the shops either by beautiful Strandvägen, in its winter clothes in the picture, or straight through Östermalm

On our way home we can pass by Humlegården for some playtime

And our last stop may be Ett bageri, my favourite bakery (tied with Valhallabageriet, but Ett bageri is much closer)

Have a nice weekend!

Baby Guesses So far

Here's the baby pool  list so far, will update as I receive more entries.

4 March: Mrs Clapper (boy; 3295 gr and 49 cm)

5 March: Anne (boy; 3700 gr and 49 cm)

7 March: Miss Marie (boy; 3900 gr and 49 cm); Karin (girl; 3325 and 48 cm)

8 March: Millan (girl; 3410 gr and 50 cm); mamma/mormor (girl)

10 March: Malin (boy; 3780 gr and 50 cm)

11 March / due date: my own guess, and only based on that Isolde arrived on her due date (girl; 3525 gr and 50 cm)

12 March: Annika (girl; 3250 gr and 49 cm)

Keep the guesses coming! Parameters to help you with your guess can be found in the original post!

 

Guess That Baby!

With the due date only five weeks away it's time to launch a little baby sweep!

Prizes* for the winner of course!

There are three categories (but two prize categories as there would be too many prizes to give out if I included gender):

• birth date
• weight and length
• gender

Some background information and hints:

• The estimated due date is 11 March (apparently only 4.6% of babies arrive on EDT)
• Isolde arrived on her due date but it was a long delivery so it started the day before
• According to the old wives' tale whereby it's possible to predict the gender with the expectant's hair and wedding ring, as performed below by my boss, I'm having a girl...

Apologies for the blurry photo

• This pregnancy has been very similar to when I was expecting Isolde in terms of morning sickness (a bit more this time) and size and shape of my tummy (though perhaps slightly rounder this time and I've gained a couple of more kilos) - if you believe any of that reveals the gender...
• I'm hoping for a boy but it feels very much like a girl since the pregnancies have been so similar and it's also difficult to imagine something you're not already familar with
• Isolde's birth weight and length was 3,365 gr and 48 cm
• Feel free to ask me anything else that may help your guessing!

* Emma won the last one as she predicted Isolde's birthday but I can't remember now if I ever sent her a prize?!  Emma, I promise to do send you the same as this year's winner(s)!

Winter Drinks

With only weeks to due date we thought we'd take the opportunity to throw a party before we'll be busy getting used to life as a family of four.  So yesterday we had about 25 people over for drinks and nibbles. Just 48 hours before the party we thought 40 people were coming but then the calls/emails/texts started coming: "we're sick", "our kid is sick", "the babysitter is sick"...  There was no end.  It got hilarious after a while.

In the end 25 people was plenty - I had a great time and I had time to talk to most people and refill nibble trays (Peter was responsible for drinks) - and it looked like people had a good time, but we were sad to miss those who couldn't come (hope to see you soon though, even if perhaps more on a one-to-one basis) and we got a lot of alcohol over*.

So, or despite that...

Note to self!  Don't throw a party at that time of the year which Swedes call "vabruari" (from VAB - care of sick child - and February)

I didn't take any photos at the party except one at the very end when everybody had left except for a couple of people and Peter put Gangnam Style on as the grand finale ;)

* Grateful for Systembolaget's return policy

Friday Gallery: Addiction

New month and a new Friday Gallery hostess, Annika in Umeå.  Her first theme is addiction*, which I thought I'd illustrate with an interesting development in Isolde's life: she stopped sucking her thumb. 

She started sucking on her index finger on the same hand though so she's not rid of her addiction, but I was surprised to see how fast it happened, almost from one day to the other.  What happened was that she got a cut or a chap on her thumb due to a combination of a constantly wet thumb and very cold weather, and we put cream and a plaster on and told her to suck on the left thumb or a finger instead.  At first she was just trying to remove the plaster but after a day or so she asked for more cream and a new plaster if it had come off (this seemed to coincide with her becoming more conscious - or perhaps this was the cause - of boo-boos and wanting us to blow on the "wound" and comfort her even though she hasn't really got hurt at all) as well as for sympathy for her wounded thumb.  And after two days she started sucking on her right index finger and even though a couple of days later her thumb was fine and she didn't have to wear a plaster anymore, she didn't go back to her thumb, not even in her sleep when you'd think the reflex of putting her thumb in her mouth, something she's been doing since the age of five months, would be the strongest.

So now we have a little finger-sucking girl.  Her dad sucked the same finger when he was little - though with the palm of his hand up while she does it the other way around - so maybe it's genetic ;)

Isolde before...

...and after

It will be interesting to see if it will be as "easy" to get her to stop sucking her thumb or finger altogether.  If we tape all fingers?  Anyway, we're not really going to force her to do that yet but maybe when she's three years old, if she hasn't stopped on her own.  Peter apparently stopped without much difficulty around the age of three so let's hope for that.  That said, they say nowadays that as long as she stops (and the same goes for pacifiers) before she gets her permanent teeth, there shouldn't be too much damage to her teeth.


* I noticed later after I had written my post that it really was "I'm addicted to..." but hope I'm excused for using Isolde's bad habits :)