7 Weeks

Isolde is already seven weeks old! Time flies! She's really communicating now - smiling with her whole face and talking to us with differen gurgling noises. When she's on her tummy she's really trying to turn around to her back. She did it once, at six weeks and two days old, but I don't think she really meant to then so we don't count it as a real turn. It's fascinating how babies are programmed to develop step-by-step; they all start moving their little arms and legs in a certain way when it's time to learn how to move from tummy to back.

What else is new? Last doctor's visit (six days ago) was a proper check-up where they listened to her heart and lungs, checked her hips, spine and head and her general health condition basically. All was fine! Our little perfect girl! :) She's probably grown since Monday but then weight and height was 4,690 g and 54 cm.

This is Isolde right now, exhausted after a dinner party at my boss' house last night :)



Via Anna's iPhone

Show & Tell

A double whammy of Show & Tell since I neglected to post anything last week. Annika still calls the shots. Her theme for last week was You and your mobile/computer/Pad/e-reader/iPod and for this week (today) When Evening Comes.

I think I have mentioned it before but I'm so grateful I have my two friends Laptop and IPhone during my maternity leave, especially now in the beginning when we're not doing as much excursions as perhaps we will when Isolde gets a bit older. Sure, these gadgets doesn't help me shrink the pile of newspapers, the Economist or the parental magazines I subscribe to (or the books I keep on buying) but what would I do without them?! The iPhone especially. My favourite apps at the moment besides Facebook and various news sites are Hemnet* (homes for sale), Blocket (second-hand), Google (always useful), a crossword app and Learn Something Every Day.

These two friends - we have separate sets - keep us company in the evenings though Peter and I try to be a bit social with each other too :) Here are some pictures to show what our evenings have looked like since Isolde arrived.

Bath is an evening activity a couple of times a week

Some evenings are spent visiting friends (or having visitors)

Multi-tasking

Bonding

Sometimes it takes a while to get a little one to fall asleep

The basket is fine but isn't it nicer to sleep ON this parent...

...or this one

* Will in all likelihood still be hooked on it even though we already bought a new place

I'll Have a Scoop of...Breastmilk

An ice-cream parlour in Covent Garden in London has introduced a new, interesting, organic flavour...

Speaking of breasts I just read about Christina Applegate, who as you may know had breast cancer a few years ago and had both her breasts removed. I almost cried when I read how special it was for her to pull her just born daughter to her chest. A chest she would not show strangers* otherwise. Even if she couldn't breastfeed her little girl.

* The hospital staff

The Life of a Commoner

Remember a dictator's diary? Now you can follow the daily life of (the democrat) David Cameron.

Bird Cake

For the (angry) birds and/or cake lovers out there...

New Flat!

We bought a new flat! Finally! Can't wait to move into our new home (but will need to wait until the end of April)!

We won't move far at all; it's the building behind ours which we can see from our living room and our bedroom. The building is from 1948 and thus qualifies as "funkis" (functional style). It's a 90 sqm two-bedroom flat and it has all three of our "wants"; fireplace, balcony and bathtub!

We're planning to polish the floors (too light for our taste) including the one in the smaller bedroom which is now painted white, and also freshen up the kitchen (or a complete rebuild) and the toilet. We will also need to paint some walls and remove the wooden wall in the bigger bedroom (now dining room). But otherwise the flat is in a good condition!

Here are some pictures of what it looks like now.

The building itself is not pretty but since we'll be living IN it, it won't bother us too much :) But it's funny that we've been sitting on our balcony talking about how ugly the house opposite is (especially the colour) and now we'll be living there!

Floor plan. As you can see it has two walk-in closets, well, at least the one next to the bathroom qualifies as a walk-in while the other one is a bit too small perhaps.

Living room

The balcony is not as big as the one we have now but a decent size. It faces southwest so we'll have afternoon and evening sun (like now).

The kitchen is in a good condition but we want built-in cupboards on both sides. I'm not sure I like the tiles either - sort of French country-style - but we may stick with it.

The present owner uses one of the bedrooms, the bigger one, as dining room but we will use it as our bedroom. The living room is big enough for both a sitting area and a dining room table. We haven't decided yet though whether we will close up the opening between the bedroom and the kitchen.

This will be Isolde's bedroom. It has access both from the big hallway and from a separate entrance (to the flat) and there is a toilet next to it. There's a pretty big closet next to the loo where we will put a washer and a dryer.

The hallway in the middle of the flat from different angles

The bathroom left and bottom right and the toilet top right. We'll probably re-tile the loo.

Worst Commercial Ever?!

Thanks Saltis!

Another gift arrived for Isolde today! The world is full of wonderful people, and especially of fellow bloggers!



Thank you Saltis & family for the cool pajamas and cute shoes! I like the eco touch on the PJs - they are made of 50% soy beans. I bought something similar the other day; made of bamboo :)

Hope to see you soon so you can meet Isolde!

The Joy of Stats

200 years of global development in 4 minutes - explained vividly by Swedish professor and statistics guru Hans Rosling.

Next Time in London...

I read an article (in the newsletter/magazine from Swedish Church in London) where news correspondent Per Nordangård* shares his London highlights. Having lived in the UK for four years, two of those in London, I have seen a lot of London but not these and I look forward to visiting some of these sights next time I go to London (soon I hope!).

• - Apsley House, the poshest house in London on Hyde Park Corner, alternative address "No 1 London". Apsley was the home of the Duke of Wellington (who defeated Napoleon) and is still home to members of the Wellington family.
• - Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, luxury shelter for (15,000) homeless dogs and cats (every year). Offers guided tour of all four floors.
• - The Clockmaker's Museum, at Guildhall Library in the City (London's financial district). It houses the world's oldest collection of clocks and has been recently renovated.
• - One of the most complete collections of dolls and toys in the world at the Museum of Childhood.
• - Fish & chips from the Golden Hind in Marylebone Lane (I used to live in Marylebone but never went to this particular fish & chips shop).
• - The Garden Museum at St Mary-at-Lambeth
• - The Hive Honey Shop with 700 different products and 20,000 bees at work
• - Kew Gardens (no, haven't been there yet), one of the world's leading botanic gardens
• - Little Venice - walk along Regent's Canal past canal boats, London Zoo and several parks, all the way to the markets and locks in Camden
• - Classical music and candlelight every day of the week at St Martin-in-the-fields in Trafalgar Square. This church also has a café and restaurant under the arches in the crypt as well as jazz concerts on Wednesdays.
• - The National Dining Rooms at the National Gallery for traditional British food.
• - Ports and wines at Berry Bros. and Rudd, a 3oo year-old wine shop
• - The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, displaying pieces of the royal art collection
• - Afternoon tea at the Orangery in Kensington Garden (been there but not for afternoon tea)
• - Ye Grapes pub in Shepherd Market, Mayfair, a pub with history and atmosphere
• - The Zest Gallery for contemporary glass blowing and design

* Nordangård has just published his fifth book, Den siste korrespondenten

Show & Tell: My Block

It's almost time for Annika's third theme for February but I'm still on the second! On your block. So let me show you my neighbourhood!

Our building. We have a balcony like those in the picture but our flat is on the other side of the building (on the second floor).

We live on a cul-de-sac (door to the left of the silver car), which means our street is not that trafficated and since our flat is on the other side we hardly hear cars (we're probably not going to be similarly spoilt in our next home).

At the bottom of our strip of the street there is a kiosk selling Thai food. It used to be a traditional kiosk selling newspapers, hot dogs and kebabs but no one who gave it a go succeeded (several tried and in between attempts it stood empty). But as a Thai hole-in-the-wall it's very popular and has almost put the other (real) Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood out of business.

View towards Erik Dahlbergsgatan and the local florist. On the other three corners of the intersection there are a Coop grocery shop, a dry cleaners and a shop selling pet accessories. Other shops on the main street sell chocolate (Ejes), bread, pizza and second-hand clothes.

On this corner (view back towards our street and the Thai kiosk) is "our" local café, Café V (for Victoria, the owner). I haven't been back since Isolde arrived though, as it's usually pretty crowded and I don't want to leave the pram (with a sleeping little girl) outside yet. Café V is a cosy little place but as usual, not as much value-for-money as when it was new a couple of years ago.

Tessinparken is one of the high points of living in this area. In the summer that is. Then we usually bring blankets and something to read and just hang out in the park. There is an establishment further down on the right (only open in the summer), which serves pretty good food (club sandwich, burgers, salads and the like) and beer and wine. Now when we are parents we will appreciate the playground at the top of the park.

The view from the park is not as pretty as it features the infamous 1970s complex Fältöversten (housing and shopping centre) which architecturally doesn't fit in here, but which provides decent shopping.


At the bottom of the park there is a very popular hangout, especially in the summer. They have lots of ice-cream flavours to choose from but it's a bit pricey. Their pasta is good too but don't bother with their salads.

Terracotta

Last Saturday (a week ago) we went to see the exhibition of China's Terracotta Army (well, 8 or so soldiers get to represent the 8,000 men strong army) at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. In retrospect, even if we had pre-purchased tickets and didn't have to queue for very long to get in, we should not have picked a Saturday, as it took ages (an hour) to fight the crowds inside. The old military bunker (or shelter) underneath the regular museum where they've housed the exhibition is a great facility for such occasions (including disabled as well as pram access) but they could chosen a much better layout. All soldiers were facing to the right (I wonder if the Chinese have required that?) so even if there was space to walk on both sides of the glass boxes everyone (of course) wanted to walk on the right. There were information boards on both sides though, with different information, so there was a lot of zig-zagging and cutting "the queue"*. That said, I'm glad I went, especially since I doubt I will make it over to the real thing in China any time soon. Isolde happily slept through her first ever museum visit.













* I'm amazed how some people seem so oblivious to people around them. One example is when they walk up to an information poster and stand right in front of three other people, who out of courtesy to others have left some space in between them and the poster to allow more people to read at the same time.

5 Weeks...

...and weighing in at 4,470 g (up 390 g since the last visit ten days ago) and measuring 53,8 cm. Isolde demonstrated her strong neck, found out that she had quite a lot of "baby acne" (comparatively, but it will go away soon) and peed on the examining table :)

Off to the doctor's, finally asleep, sporting a new scarf, knitted by my mum (Isolde's grandmother)

Saturday

Lunch at Peter's office (Stockholm's best views?), followed by a visit to Peter's grandmother to introduce Isolde.



Via Anna's iPhone

Show & Tell...

...will have to wait until next week. Then I should have plenty of time to document our neighbourhood and what goes on here on my walks with Isolde.

Winter Again

Managed to get to Fältöversten (thanks to snow wheels on the pram), only to discover that I left my purse at home. Well, cheaper that way I guess!



Via Anna's iPhone

Meet Dotty

She may have a strong neck but she's not very pretty right now due to a hormone rash, common around four weeks. She doesn't seem to notice it though luckily. I hope she'll be back to her pretty self soon :)



Via Anna's iPhone

Neck

Look at our talented little girl! Only one month old and already holding up her neck! She's been strong from the beginning but this time she held it up like that for a whole minute (though I only got the camera out at the end)!

P.S.! Please try not to listen to my silly baby talk voice! ;)

Push Present

Marie's post reminded me that I haven't shown you what Peter got me for pushing out our baby girl (and for Christmas; combined gift :) They go very well with my engagement and wedding rings :)



Via Anna's iPhone

Handbag Crime Fighter

One Month

Isolde turns one month today! Time really flies when you're having fun! Because fun is what it is most of the time. Isolde is a happy and easy-going girl and every day there's something new for her to explore and something about her for us to discover. She's communicating much more with us and even though we don't see that proper smile that often she smiles with her eyes. It's easy to "drown" in her eyes - sometimes her look is so intense though that you have to look away after a while (and dry some tears off).

Monday this week was the first "difficult" day (in addition to my baby blues the first week). I had eaten a bad shrimp salad on Sunday and was sick at night (at least I think it was the food as Peter who hadn't had the same food didn't get sick and as far as I know Sunday's fika guests didn't get sick either). Peter didn't get home until 5 am Monday morning as he was watching the Super Bowl at a friend's place but that was fine, as after the worst wore off I (and Isolde) slept alright. We had a lie-in until 11 am since Peter wasn't going into work until lunch time but even though I had had enough sleep I was quite fatigued and could only eat small amounts of food to start with.

Isolde had a bad day too; maybe she felt mummy wasn't her usual self (she didn't seem to have whatever had inflicted me though, luckily). After we got up I was basically stuck on the sofa nursing her. Isolde dozed off several times and I tried to put her to sleep - several times - but the longest she slept was 30-45 mimutes around 4 pm during which time I managed to take a shower and wash my hair. Usually I walk around the flat and do stuff with her (sometimes she's hungry but can't find a comfortable position or the calm she needs and then doing something different for a while helps, e.g. walking around, holding her in different ways, etc.) but as I was so tired I didn't have the strength and maybe that was why she didn't fall into deep sleep.

When Peter got home from work around 5:30 pm we took a walk to see a flat for sale. It was a good opportunity for me to get some fresh air and for Isolde to sleep. She fell asleep in the pram and then slept for a few hours after we got home (she really likes the pram, luckily!). When she woke up later in the evening and had some awake time before it was bedtime for all of us, she was her usual self, which is a bit night cranky (I think she has gas in the evenings) but nothing too bad.

And the next day (yesterday), she was in a really happy mood all day and was really communicative and alert. And I was fit-for-fight again too!

Leaving you with one of my favourite pictures of our little girl!

11 days old

200

FYI, those new (and very new) or expecting parents out there!

I've estimated that we have gone through around 200 nappies since we came home from the hospital with Isolde. 200 in four weeks makes around 7 per day. That's a nappy change every 3½ hours roughly, and probably more during the day as she sleeps pretty well at night.

Another Blog Baby!

Anki had a little boy on 6 February! A bit earlier than expected but all seem to have gone well!

Congratulations & Welcome!

Plain Amazing

Can't embed the clip so you will need to click on the link, but believe me it's worth it! This girl is not just talented, she's beautiful too!

First Smile

Didn't catch it on camera unfortunately*, but Isolde smiled for the first time today. A real smile. She has smiled before but more out of reflex; while passing gas or thinking of being fed or just being generally content. This time it was in response to me talking to her.

The baby smiled and the mother cried. Happy tears of course.

Will illustrate the big occasion with an earlier "connection moment".

One week old

*Or fortunately, as we - Peter was there too - were too busy experiencing it in the moment.

Valentine Money Maker

Ejes Chocolate Shop is prepared for Valentine's Day.



Via Anna's iPhone

Four

Took Isolde for another check-up yesterday. She's now 4,080 g heavy (or light) and she's somehow shrunk from 52 to 51 cm! Nah, probably last week's measurement was not all that accurate :) The nurse also checked if Isolde was able to follow an object (red ball) with her eyes, which she was. We have noticed that Isolde is less and less cross-eyed now at almost four weeks (can't believe she's already four weeks old on Sunday!!). She's much more "with it" now and has started to "talk" to us and she smiles, though we haven't seen that real response smile yet.

What about the mother? She's been losing weight instead. Breast-feeding is the s**t, I tell you! I weighed about 73 kg at the end of the pregnancy and when I got home from the hospital I had lost 5 kg, and now I have landed at 63-64 kg depending on the day (and my breasts...). Only 4-5 kg to go until I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight! Weird as it may sound, it looks like my bum is smaller than before the pregnancy (something I don't mind at all) so I'm not sure where the extra kilos are, perhaps in my thighs? My stomach will need to be tuned (luckily I don't have as much loose skin as I thought I would) but I haven't started working out yet as I've been wanting to take it easy (and haven't had the time anyway). But it should be safe to start now, right? Even sit-ups? I have a yoga mat and Wii Fit to play with until my gym membership goes active again in April. Getting into my skinny jeans will be the real test! Wish me luck!

A typical evening in the Coyet residence (2½ weeks old)

Sleeping beauty (3 weeks old)

Show & Tell: Ice

After taking a break in January I'm back on the Show & Tell bandwagon again. Annika calls the shot in February and her first theme is ice (she loves winter and snow so the topic was not surprising at all!).

I thought I'd show you some photos from my visit to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) back in December 2005. Some of you might have visited the falls in summer time but I'm quite sure not many of you have seen it frozen in winter*! Talk about ice, Annika! It was so beautiful!

Ehum... I still have this winter coat (it was new then)...time for a new one perhaps!

* The main falls do not freeze of course but smaller falls do and the whole area is covered by ice - and natural ice sculptures - due to steam from the falls that has subsequently frozen.

Gender Equality Articles

I read Anna Laestadius Larsson's columns in SvD regularly and agree with her almost all the time. She mostly writes about men and women, gender equality and parenthood (she seems way too left for SvD but I'm glad they have her on their team as I'm not your typical SvD reader).

Here are a few of her recent columns (in Swedish):

- Breast-feeding and breast pumps
- Parental leave
- Education and gender equality (boys' school results)
- Gender equality and quotas

Unknown Customs

Read an old document (from work) on social customs in Sweden and learnt a few need things. Apparently...

• - Traditionally women were not supposed to participate in a cheer/toast (skål) but could skål each other, and juniors were not supposed to skål seniors if their own sex unless the senior had first toasted the junior. (Did not know that but doesn't surprise me.)
• - It is considered bad luck to skål in water. (Is it??)
• - Swedes serve dinner and dessert followed by coffee and more cake. (Maybe, but if so a small piece of chocolate or bisquit with the coffee rather than cake.)
• - Weddings can go on for a few days, and at least late into the night. (A few days?? I think they are getting us confused with India.)
• - It used to be unacceptable to use loud outdoor machinery on Sundays, for example lawn mowers, hedge clippers, etc. Nowadays, there are people who mow their lawns on Sundays after church hours (1 p.m.) but they may get some dirty looks from more conservative neighbours. (If there are any dirty looks, I'm sure it's just because it's disturbing someone's leisurely garden time rather than anything else.)
  

Wednesday Recipe: Vegetarian Thai

Minced quorn with coconut and ginger
4 servings

Ingredients
400 g minced quorn (or minced beef or chicken)
olive oil
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1 can of coconut milk
1 onion (original recipe: 2 dl leek)
1-2 tbsp red curry paste (according to taste)
sea salt
1 red chili pepper
1.5 dl shredded cabbage
1.5 dl grated carrot

What to do
Fry onion and minced quorn/meat in oil. Mix ginger, garlic and chili (I put all of it in a mixer) and add to the pan. Add coconut milk and curry paste. Add salt according to taste. Lastly add cabbage and carrot and let simmer for a while. Serve with rice or glass noodles.

Crash Course about the UK