Thursday in September

Almost a month since I last wrote. What have we been up to?

• Isolde started school again. She's in the same class as little friendbours V. and E., which is very nice and convenient for drop-offs and pick-ups but also has its disadvantage, e.g if one or two of the others get picked up early but not Isolde, but that's part of learning how to deal with life I guess. Isolde likes school and has fun there but it is certainly not the super-positive attitude that we had last autumn (guess the novelty has wore off). In the morning she says she doesn't want to go but once we're on the way she's usually excited...until we reach the classroom and she doesn't want to let go and is sometimes upset (though sometimes "crocodile tears") but usually accepts to go to her teacher's arms, albeit a bit reluctantly. If E. is upset, Isolde will also start crying, or vice versa, as they trigger each other. As I said she seems to have fun and be content once there but in the morning I think that she in that moment prefers to stay on the comfy couch and watching telly. And not having to get dressed. Our little lazy girl :)

Isolde's classroom. To the left of this picture they have a playhouse and some more toys.

• It took Harald about three weeks or so to get used to his new daily routine at the Pas à pas crèche. After about three weeks he caught a cold and was home for little over a week. The last two days before he got sick was the first days that he didn't cry when we dropped him off, but after that week away I thought we would be back to square one. But it seems that he has actually missed them and he wanted to go to one of the teachers right away and he put his head on her shoulder and cuddled for a long time. So this was really a sign that he's really happy there and also a good "grade" for them. There's such a good atmosphere there. When I dropped Harald off Wednesday this week they were playing the guitar and singing and I just wanted to stay there instead of going to work!
• We have done some gardening, even though most weekends and evenings we have priorised other things. We have tried to get rid of some persistent weed (dandellion type) in the grass, the environmentally-friendly way, and sown new grass, but now we'll have to buy some chemicals. I have also continued the weeding of the flower beds that my mum started when she was here, and we have also evened out some parts of the grass both on the front and back of the house by putting new soil and sown grass.
• I started studying French - two hours twice per week during work hours, one of the perks of working for the European Commission.
• We tried online food shopping from Colruyt and we will probably continue this habit, if not every week but every other, with the usual complimentary shopping from the smaller supermarkets in the neighbourhood. Colruyt is a discount supermarket that is not really a great shopping experience if you actually go there - reminded me of Ö&B/Överskottsbolaget in Sweden - but in terms of the produce and products it sells it is very good. It has a very large range of organic products and Colruyt also has another supermarket, BioPlanet, that only sells bioproducts.

• We bought a new table for the living room. You may remember that our old one broke... We tried to find another table we liked but in the end we bought one almost exactly the same as our old glass table, only slightly smaller. We also bought a new carpet for the kids' room. As always, Ikea is the place to go. Well, not the table as that is from Habitat.

• We had a crayfish party together with the extended friendbour circle, including also the family we rented the flat from our first year in Brussels, who are now back in town. We ate crayfish for lunch and then had a barbeque in the evening. We actually got a babysitter to entertain the kids in the evening so we could actually have a sit-down dinner. Worked pretty well even though you are not completely off duty since they are still in the house.

• What else? We celebrated V's third birthday and Ellna's first, and their dad turned 40. We tried to take advantage of the mild September evenings before it starts getting dark too early (though most of the time, September has been chillier than last year, but better than August) by taking walks in our lovely neighbourhood. We also visited one of those indoor playgrounds for children for the first time. We were there early so we had the place almost to ourselves. Only bad thing was that we got some sort of stomach bug but it could also have been the lunch at Pizza Hut afterwards... We made a visit to the Natural History Museum. Last week we went to three different playgrounds in the same day. You have to make the most of the weekends, especially when the weather is nice!

Pajama walk

Little palaeontologists in action

• Peter has gone climbing twice with the husband of a colleague of mine (they came to our drink in March) and the plan is that they will go regularly. After the first session Peter's climbing shoes got mysteriously missing - we think we must have thrown them out with the rubbish, possibly with Harald's help... but luckily they were too tight and he needed new ones anyway. By funny coincidence my colleague's husband, whose name is also Peter, also went to Essex university like my Peter (he did a one-year Master's there) and it was there both of them tried climbing for the first time (and my Peter hasn't really climbed since then). Both Peters have also spent a long time at home with their children (their daughter is around the same age as Isolde) and the other Peter works 80% and is also the one who usually picks from crèche/school. We're also going to try to get the whole families together soon.
• Oh, and there was the Swedish election of course. There is so much I would like to write about it but I haven't had time to really sit down and have a serious think. For now, I will only write that despite the disappointment of the success of the Sweden Democrats that of course bedimmed the evening, Petra and I had a good time at the election coverage event organised by the group Svenskar i Bryssel.

April's Gone

May already and more than a month since I last wrote, so time for a little recap.

• Lots of work for me. This time of the year, March-May, will always be very busy, even though the busy period started already in January.
• But at the same time, April means Easter and we were able to spend almost 10 days in Sweden. We had a much more relaxing schedule than last time we were home at Christmas and spent most of the time with family but met with a few sets of friends. We also ticked off a few "duties" on our list, dentist for Peter and Isolde (first ever visit for her - it went well and she opened her mouth long enough for them to count her teeth), vaccination shots for Isolde, belated one-year check-up at BVC for Harald, and doctor's appointment for me to get migraine medicine (here in Belgium they only have these huge packs that only holds three pills while I can get a pack of 30 in Sweden).

Traditional Finnish Easter eggs and Finnish (Danish?) smørrebrød at Thomas & Minna's new flat on Easter Saturday.

Easter decoration à la Isolde

Harald is enjoying that all playgrounds in Sweden have swings

Easter cake helper

Eating corn snacks in his sleep...

Time to fly back to Brussels

• Spring comes earlier here than in Sweden (and this year it is an usually early spring apparently) and in mid-April it looked and smelled like Sweden in May. You know those flowers you associate with the last few weeks of school before summer vacation. But here that is very much April rather than May. Now it is completely green. The cherry trees blossomed at in mid-March and the magnolia was almost withering by the end of March. The lilac are still in bloom though.
• We finished the month of April with Walpurgis Eve / Valborg celebrations at the Scandinavian School in Waterloo on 30 April together with our new neighbours, Swedish T., Welsh M. and their daughter E.

• E. also started attending Isolde's school at the end of April. They are not in the same class but the two classes spend the afternoons together.

Off to school on E's first day

• We have also made some more definite plans for our continued stay here in Belgium. Peter will be working for his Swedish employer until the end of the year - still on parental leave until August and after that, remote working either from home or from his company's office here in Brussels. That will give him more time to find a job here.
• We also started looking for houses to rent here in April, and this week Tuesday we signed for a very nice house in the same neighbourhood where we live now (so we don't have to change schools/crêche)! We are so excited! We will get access at the beginning of June so now we are looking into moving our furniture from Sweden here. As our tenants in the Stockholm flat have moved out and we are looking for new tenants we have the opportunity to move the furniture and then let it unfurnished instead.

Our new house!

• In the saga that is Harald's computer addiction he managed to break my iPhone screeen while we were in Sweden but luckily it didn't cost me too much to fix it. Unnecessary of course but it is very difficult to say no to him sometimes! Now I have problems with the LCD screen under the glass and sometimes I can hardly see what I'm doing so it's time to buy a new one (and I should probably complain to the repair place in Sweden but I don't think I kept the receipt...)!

Must. Get. The. Computer.

• We have hung out with the neighbours and been to one housewarming party of an old acquaintance from my stagiaire days who also lives here now (they came to our drink in March as well). Unfortunately in April we had to say goodbye to our good friends Chris & Jacqui who moved back to the UK after four years in Belgium (after before that four years in Sweden where we first met them). We miss them so much! Luckily it is not too far to the UK from here and especially not to Kent in south England where they live now.

We will miss little Emilie and her brother Daniel, and their parents of course!

• Our dear friends and neighbours P & O brought back some shoes for our kids from Spain where they spent Easter. Shoes are so much cheaper there! And it's good quality leather shoes! We will need to put in another order for their next visit! :)

• And the kids are growing and learning new things! Isolde is drawing cars and Harald is practising his fine motor skills.

February Points

• Last days of February! It already feels like spring in Brussels (and a few days ago we had 12-13 degrees even) and when March comes it will be spring for real! I would have liked a bit more winter, at least a few days of snow, but otherwise I like living in a place with a bit milder climate than Stockholm.  And both the autumn and winter have been milder and sunnier and less rainy than normal Brussels weather, as I understand (and remember from my internship days here in 2002/2003).
• Harald turned ONE this month!  Poor Harald didn't get much of a celebration on his birthday except for brief singing in the morning and a few presents at night, but Harald himself didn't really care :)  We celebrated his birthday again last weekend when farmor & farfar (Peter's parents) visited and will do the same when my mum and my aunt visit at the end of March. When Isolde turned 1 and also 2 we had big birthday parties to which we invited many friends with or without children, but here we don't know that many people yet, and our main set of friends here were both away around Harald's birthday (and afterwards the kids have had colds, and the time passed). So he will get his big party next year instead! 
• Speaking of friends, we have invited friends, colleagues and acquaintances to a drink at our place next weekend.  We have asked each guest to bring with them another friend/family, as a way to get to know more people.  It is not mandatory of course but it would be fun to meet new people and it looks like most people liked our idea!

• We have booked two sets of plane tickets to Sweden, first over Easter when we will be in Sweden 11-21 April, and then for a weekend in May, 22-25th, when my mum turns 60 (22nd). We are also going to book tickets for the summer soon - I think we will spend four weeks in Sweden, probably 7 July - 1 August, give or take a few days.
• Peter has done EXTENSIVE research on cars but we have not made any definite decisions yet, and at the moment it looks like we will wait and see whether Peter would get a company car with his new job (which he will start looking for soon), as it seems like a rather common benefit in Belgium. And even if he doesn't, by then a few new models will have come out which may be worth waiting for.
• Harald is now enrolled at the crèche that we visited and I wrote about earlier, and will start on 11 August. It seems very good and they actually seem to go outside even in the winter, which is not very common in this country. And guess what, our neighbour's little girl E. will start there in September (and her brother V. will go to Isolde's school but not in the same class)!
• We are looking forward to having Peter's sister and family here for the first time in a few weeks' time.  Two weeks later my mum and aunt come, and two weeks after that we go to Sweden for Easter.  So a lot of family time coming up! Two friends are also coming again for work in March and will either stay the night with us or at least meet up for dinner, but one of them I might miss, as I may have to go to Sweden for work on that particular day.
• Tomorrow I have the day off. Originally we planned to go somewhere for an overnight stay (around 2 hours away is France, Luxembourg and Germany and Netherlands is even closer), but now Peter also has the cold Isolde had last week and Harald has had this week, so we have decided just to do some sightseeing in Brussels tomorrow and just do a daytrip somewhere nearby (on hour's drive at the most) on Saturday. It is so nice with an extra day to the weekend, especially since I have been working a lot lately.
• This weekend we also have some social activities to look forward to. We are invited to a colleague's carnival* lunch (she is Swedish and her sambo Portuguese and they have 2-year-old son) on Sunday, and after that we go directly to P & O's neighbours' coffee. As you know, they live in our building (and helped us found our flat) and now another family(Swedish-Welsh) they know are going to move in here too, and they have two other friends who live just around the corner.
• Isolde has already celebrated carnival at school this week but like Halloween time she only wanted to wear her costume for a minute. For that reason we only got her a very simple costume - a leopard mask - and she also wore a tiger t-shirt we already had at home. When we arrived to school and she saw all her little friends in their costumes she wanted to put the mask on, but just as quickly she wanted to take it off and she got a bit upset and didn't really believe me or her teacher that she didn't have to wear it if she didn't want to. I don't know if she wore it later - at Halloween she actually did wear her sceleton costume later in the day, at least long enough for photos - but she wanted to bring it again the next day. But in general, even though she's starting to get into dress-up game, she doesn't see the purpose of it, except for playing. Like us parents I guess who like dressing up for a dinner or party, but are not particularly fond of costumes or fancy dress/masquerade.
• I can't remember if I have mentioned it before, but since a couple of months back we are subscribing to the same "grocery bag"/"food bag" service we had in Sweden. It's the same recipes but here in Belgium it is called Smartmat instead of Middagsfrid. The produce is slightly better in Sweden but we're still really happy with it here, and since a few weeks back we do all vegetarian every other week.
• Have a great Friday and weekend!

* Celebration of the start of Lent. The Swedish equivalent is Shrove Tuesday when we eat semlor, but that is a very modest celebration compared to carnival.

Thursday Again

Suddenly two weeks have passed since my last post (that is starting to sound familiar...). I'm quite busy at work at the moment and I don't have much free time to blog there ha ha :) Anyway, here's a recap:

• Our dear friends Jenny, Mauro & Leah as well as Maria & Daniel visited us for a long weekend in the middle of January. It was especially wonderful to have Jenny and her family here as they live in Brazil and don't come to Europe that often but this time they are in Sweden for three months and thus had time for a trip to Belgium as well (and we met them briefly in Sweden at Christmas). Isolde and Leah (20 months old) fought about toys from time to time but most of the time they really enjoyed each other's company. 

Isolde wasn't too keen to let Leah try her bike

Nice lunch at one of our favourite brasseries (since it has both an indoor play area and a playground outside) while two out of three children were napping.

• We were invited to a raclette dinner at our friends and neighbours P & O but they couldn't find the raclette :) Fortunately the food was still delicious and the company a pleasure as always. I'm so glad they are our neighbours!  At the moment they are in Sweden for a couple of weeks and we miss them!
• The following day (Sunday) O. and Peter went to the annual (?) Brussels car show and spent nine (!) hours there. We have the opportunity to buy a car VAT free here in Belgium and many auto dealers also offer "diplomatic discounts" and we want to take advantage of this of course. Peter is now doing very serious research with comparisons in excel and what not so it will be a well-informed decision once we take it. We will sell our current car once we have received the new one, no need for two cars! At the moment we are learning towards BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen Passat (our current car)  but we're also looking into SUVs or other cars that can take 7 passengers, which would be useful when we have visitors here in Belgium. 
• I celebrated my 38th (yikes!) birthday last week. It was a Tuesday and a work day (I wish birthdays were always a day off!) but we had a dinner (and overnight) guest actually! My cousin Fredrik was in the country for work (he has a new job since a few months back which usually takes him to Zeebrugge near the coast) and decided to come a day early to celebrate my birthday and see where we live, so that was nice. 

Cake from one of the local bakeries.

• The day before my birthday my friend and former colleague Mette was in town for work and came over for dinner. She's coming back in March and then we'll probably go out for dinner instead. Last week was a week when I was going to be away on a work trip in the second half of the week and Peter would be alone with the kids for two days, including three evenings, and I felt he didn't need an extra evening on his own on top of that. 
• The work trip was my second to Sweden since I started in September (and next one might be in March if it happens) but this one involved much more planning and preparation on my part as well as active participation by me during the actual visit.  We had quite a hectic meeting agenda but I had one free evening that I spent with a group of friends at one of the newer restaurants in town, Nosh & Chow.  I can really recommend it, both for the food and the atmosphere including the decor. 

• While in Sweden I just had to have a semla of course, and I had it at one of the new cafées in our old neighbourhood.

Semla at Karla café

• I caught a cold just before heading to Sweden unfortunately.  It wasn't that bad during my two days in Stockholm but then at the weekend my nose was pretty clogged up and on Monday I stayed home to recuperate with the result that on Tuesday I was much better.  I'm glad I didn't get the cough that I usually get when I have a cold.  Perhaps the higher humidity in Belgium helps?
• The day after returning from Sweden we attended our friend's Chris & Jacqui's daughter Emilie's baptism at their local (Catholic) church (where Jacqui also sings in the choir and lowers the average of the choir with about half..).  It was a nice little service followed by champagne, tea and cakes at their house. 

I like that they invite the children to be a part of, or at least come closer during, the ceremony.

• As for the children, Harald has started walking!  He prefers to crawl still but he walks more and more and also at his own initiative to get to one place to the other. 

• It looks like we have secured a place at a crèche (nursery) for Harald from July!  We will visit on Monday so I will know more then.  But it sounds like a good place (comes with recommendations) - it is just next to Isolde's school and the staff speaks English and one of them even Swedish! 
• What else? Isolde had a haircut (much needed as it was getting long and matted), we got a new fridge/freezer as the old one was leaking and we're very happy to have a cleaning lady who comes once a week (she isn't perhaps as thorough as I would want her to be but she's a nice girl, and most importantly, we don't need to quarrel (as much) over cleaning.

At the hairdresser

The result!

December Last

Thursday is bullet point day and since I haven't done one for a while I thought I'd restart this Thursday theme today.  I haven't blogged about our two weeks in Sweden over the holidays yet, nor about the weeks leading up to Christmas.  It is perhaps a bit overdue and not in anyone's interest to read about Advent and Christmas now, but for my own record here are some pics from December.

• My mum visited in early December (that weekend I got stuck in Copenhagen Thursday to Friday) and she performed her grandmother duties very well and baked both ginger cookies and saffron buns with Isolde (and I helped a little too). 

 

I brought some of the saffrons bun to work for the Christmas drink and another colleague made very delicious salmon and caviar treats = the Swedish contribution

 

• I think I mentioned this in a previous Thursday post but without any photos, so here is one of perhaps the cosiest holidays/celebrations of them all, Saint Lucia.  In Sweden we very rarely every go to church, except for weddings, christenings and funerals, and the occasional Advent or Christmas service, but when living abroad the church becomes a very important meeting place, and something that provides a sense of community and contributes to continuity of Swedish customs and cultural habits, whether or not you are a faithful believer or not.  Peter has started going to the church's playgroups, mainly with Harald on Tuesdays but sometimes also on Wednesdays with both children.

Saint Lucia with the children's choir at the Swedish Church in Brussels

• I participated in Emma's Christmas Gift Exchange again this year, and this year my Secret Santa was Petchie!  I don't know if Emma planned it this way, since she knows we are neighbours here in Brussels, or if it was just a happy coincidence :)  And I sent my gift to Emma - and it wasn't that secret for natural reasons since she organises the draw.  Well, the gift was a secret but she knew it would be from me :)  I hope she liked her present (this reminds me that I have to double-check that she received it)!

Petchie-Santa brought me a note book and a range of different cards.  She had read my letter to Santa carefully!  (Sorry about the feet in the picture!)

• In Sweden the tradition is to decorate the Christmas tree on the 23rd of December, just the day before Christmas (Christmas Eve being the most important day of Christmas in Sweden), but since we knew we were not going to stay in Belgium over the holidays, we got a tree already the second week of December so we could get into the Christmas mood (the anticipation of Christmas is the best part after all). I'm quite minimalist in terms of Christmas ornaments (the opposite of Annika haha), and we didn't bring all our Christmas stuff to Belgium anyway (though Peter brought a few additional baubles for the tree when he went home that same weekend my mum was here) so in addition to the tree we only had a few other decorations, mainly made by Isolde at school.
  

  

  A bit funny-looking, at least the top part, but it was good enough for us.

 

I really like this little Russian doll nativity set!

 

We received a handful of Christmas cards.  I wish more people would send them, but on the other hand it is better for the environment if they don't I guess.  We still send a real card, with pictures of the children.

One of Isolde's creations.  Harald was rather fascinated by it, maybe because it was even bigger than him!

Another of Isolde's creations from school, a Saint Nicholas and a mushroom (I need to google why toadstools are typical Christmas ornaments, it can't be only because they are red and white??)

And the prettiest Christmas ornaments signed Isolde, though this one I think we can use throughout the year as it is more pink than red.

• We also tried to take some Christmas portraits of the children but it was a bit difficult... In the end we opted for a Christmas card with photos from throughout the year instead.

Take 1

Take 2

Another day

Christmas card 2013

Last Thursday in November

• I found out today that I have a secretary at work. Just three months after I started haha :)  I of course knew that we have a few secretaries/assistants in the unit and I recall now that at some point I received an email with list of responsibilities for these colleagues and that one of them is working mainly for me and a couple of other colleagues.  But I had assumed that they were more working on administrative tasks given to them directly by the Head and the Deputy Head of Unit, and hadn't realised I could actually give them tasks or ask for help.  I'm so used to having to do everything myself from my previous job.  So for example, "my" (i.e. not just mine, I share him with several colleagues) secretary will book my flights for the business trip I'm doing next week and take care of all the related admin.
• I have lots of work at the moment.  Many briefings to write and also many conference and seminars to attend this time of the year.  And a fair share of training courses as well (though some sessions are perhaps only two hours long).  Luckily I haven't had to work that many extra hours (and I have flexitime so if I work longer one day I can leave earlier the next day, or accumulate and take half or a full day the following month) but it is hectic when I'm at work, and I also feel quite tired, especially this week. 
• Next week I'll be going on a business trip to Malmö and Lund in Southern Sweden for a day of meetings and study visits.  One of the briefings I've been working on is for this visit actually.  Luckily it is only for a day as my mum arrives that very evening.  
• Yesterday I went to my first after work drink since I got here. Well, that's not completely true as I've been out after work when a friend from Sweden was here for work, but this was the first proper AW with colleagues from the training course I went on in October.  I was home by 9om today as I felt a bit bad for Peter who's had a couple weeks of sick kids to take care of and has hardly been out of the house.
• And this week Peter has had both kids at home yet again, as Isolde came down with fever on Monday. It was really high, 40.7 at some point, which is probably a record for her, but Tuesday it was all gone. She stayed home Wednesday too though since it's a half-day anyway and she hadn't slept very well Tuesday night. Today was a school day and she was excited about going back. Harald is still coughing quite a lot at night and his node gets blocked but during the days he's fine and his appetite and good mood are back. 
• When Isolde had that high fever we gave her some paracetamol I bought here.  My that was some strong stuff!  I bought the kind appropriate or her weight (she weighs almost 12 kg), for 10-20 kg, which is 200 mg of paracetamol here, but in Sweden the strength for 10-15 kg is 125 mg.  We gave it to her just before bedtime, and it started working right away with the result that she didn't want to go to sleep.  After having been up for a while with us she fell asleep in our bed.  An hour or so later when we were going to bed we realised she was all wet because she had peed so much (fortunately she's still wearing nappies at night) and it had leaked in the front to her nightgown and onto our covers.  And when we took her temperature she only had 36.5.  It's like she peed the fever away instead of cold sweating.  Maybe it would have happened anyway but it feels like it was the paracetamol that did it.  Next morning she had normal temperature and the fever didn't return so I guess it was just some quick thing (or those paracetamol really scared whatever it was away for good!).
• My friend H. visited last weekend from Saturday to Sunday evening.  Saturday, after lunch she and I took a stroll around our neighbour and town centre (Stockel - Place Dumon).  It was fun for me to check out the shops, as I have hardly had the chance to do so since we moved here.  Afterwards all of us headed over to our friends Chris & Jacqui for fika (they know H. as well) and in the evening H. and I went out for dinner at one of the neighbourhood brasseries.  Actually my first evening meal out since we moved here.  On Sunday H. and I attempted to do some more shopping at a members-only outlet that P. invited me to.  We each bought one Christmas present, but then later when we were going to buy some more, the queues were so long (popular shop, especially since otherwise shops are closed on Sundays in Belgium) and we had to be back at a certain time in order to go and visit a friend of H.'s.  So I will have to go back this weekend to buy what I had picked out - hopefully I can still find the right sizes.  It was nice - mysigt - to have H. over and I hope she comes back soon (but before that we'll see each other in Sweden at Christmas), both on her own and with her family.
• In terms of other visits, I'm looking forward to my mum visiting next weekend, and we're also planning for my friend Jenny's visit together with her family in mid-end January.  Jenny normally lives in Brazil with her Brazilian fiancé and their daughter but she has just arrived in Sweden to spend three months there (so I will see her at Christmas too I hope).  Will be great to have them here next year!
• Isolde and I made some advent preparations earlier in the week and I will put up our advent lights tomorrow night or Saturday so we're ready for Sunday.  Last Friday we also bought a wreath for the door and an old-fashioned advent calendar at the Christmas bazar at the Swedish church. 
• By the way, before we went to the bazar last Friday we met my cousin Fredrik who's was in town on a very brief visit after a business trip to other parts of Belgium.  After a short tour of Grand Place and Mannekin Pis, we went to a very classic Brussels place, Le Cirio, for some food and drink.  This place was actually very child-friendly and we had no problems taking the pram inside and there was even a changing station in the toilets.  It was fun to catch up with Fredrik and we hope to see him too here again in the near future, hopefully with his family.

 

Thursday Bullets

• Halloween will probably go largely unnoticed here today except that I will try to make pumpkin soup for dinner. I had plans to buy a pumpkin and carve it together with Isolde but we never got around to it. She doesn't care yet though so it doesn't matter and besides, she already celebrated Halloween at school last week. This weekend we will probably visit a pumpkin patch (with the usual Halloween activities) though when we see friends in the UK. 
• Isolde has autumn holiday this week and has been home with Peter and Harald (and keeping her dad busy). They had planned to go to the Swedish church to check out their play groups but turns out it is also closed this week. So instead they've been frequenting playgrounds and met up with P & kid(s) a couple of times. 
• Early tomorrow morning we're heading to the UK by car. Hopefully the kids will sleep part of the 6-hour journey. I'm really grateful that we hadn't planned to go last weekend with the storm that we felt parts of also here in Belgium even though we were just on the periphery of it.
• We will be coming back from our weekend trip very late Sunday night so I've taken Monday off (tomorrow Friday is a Belgian and also Commission holiday, All Saints Day).  I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little and hanging with Peter and the kids. We may take the opportunity to go to Ikea for some supplies (candles for the approaching dark season) and we also really need to buy some plants for both indoors and the balconies. It gets very humid in the flat due to tight windows so I hope the plants will help a little. 
• Peter has bought tickets to go home to see friends in December when my mum visits. I'm happy that he decided to go, as he doesn't have as many opportunities to meet people as me at work and I don't want him to get bored. That weekend is also his office's Christmas party so a good time to go home. And of course it's also good timing, as my mum will be here anyway to keep me and the kids company. 
• Last weekend we had a really nice time when P, O & kids came over for dinner. We managed to eat a three-course dinner even though it took us a few hours :) We clearly need to have more friends with kids over so Isolde learns how to share her toys. At the moment she's in a very non-sharing mood also with her brother. But I guess it's a phase and probably also due to the fact that she isn't used to having friends over anymore since we moved here. 
• We have registered the family with a doctor (thanks P for the recommendation). It's a one-minute walk from  home so very convenient.  To continue on the medical theme, I took this year's flu shot (offered at work) yesterday. I have never had the flu but I don't want to risk anything so since a few years back I usually take it every year. 
• I finally put Harald on the waiting list for the Commission's crèche (childcare) and also started contacting a few alternatives where we live (the Commission one is near work but it would be more convenient to have one near Isolde's school). He won't start until next autumn (September 2014) but there are queues almost everywhere so it cannot wait. 

Thursday Again

This post is dedicated to Mette! ;)

• This week has been busy work-wise (not too many extra hours but hectic while at work) and I can't wait for the weekend to come! I'm looking forward to getting some sleep (as much as you can get with two small children - luckily they don't wake up as early as they used to) and hanging out with my family.
• This weekend I'm also looking forward to having our lovely neighbours over for dinner. Peter has seen them (or at least three out of four family members) several times but I haven't seen them for over a month (since E was one week old and now she's six weeks!). 
• Today and tomorrow I'm attending a conference on youth unemployment. I discovered that the venue also has a spa - must check if it would be a nice place to spend a day or even spend the night. It's located outside of town in the - currently very autumn beautiful and colourful - forest. 
• Harald turned 8 months last weekend (12th) and it reminded me that I haven't posted his 6-7 month-old report yet. On the to do-list for this weekend!
• Last weekend we had a lovely visit by my parents. The weather wasn't cooperating for most of the visit except for on Saturday when we were even able to have lunch outside. But more about visits in a separate post!
• We have finally booked tickets to go and visit friends in the UK at the turn of the month! We'll be driving and on the way there we'll cross the English Channel by ferry and on the way home we'll take Le Shuttle, i.e. the train for cars. 
• Isolde will have a week off pre-school at the end of the month (just before our England trip) and when she returns she'll start attending full days (08:30-15:30), which means she will also eat and nap there. We just filled out her food order for November. The food sounds really good - it's always three-course lunches - and sounds much better than Swedish preschool and especially school lunches, but I heard at the parent teacher conference that there's a new provider and people aren't that happy, so we'll see. But you have to agree with me that this sounds delicious! 

5 November: turnip soup - salmon, macaroni and spinach cream - gruyère - biscuit
6 November: split pea soup - diced chicken, haricots provencale, bulgur - fruit yoghurt
7 November: parsnip soup - beef stew, garden vegetables, parsley puré - dried fruits

Happy Easter!

We're spending a couple of days at my parents over Easter. We had planned to go yesterday but Isolde had a fever so we postponed until today just to be on the safe side - today she was fine. Tomorrow we're having dinner with Maria and Daniel but otherwise we're just hanging out here, letting Harald bond with his grandparents.

Herring, salmon and eggs were on the menu for lunch today, and lamb for dinner. For dessert I made a fruity cake with a pineapple mousse (pineapple, cream cheese, custard powder and icing sugar) and peach and kiwi filling and whipped cream and strawberries, kiwi, peach and pineapple topping. I bet it will taste even better tomorrow!

Glad påsk!

London in December

I haven't yet told you about my latest visit to London earlier this month.  Originally I meant to take Isolde with me and visit a friend, K, in Abingdon outside Oxford (K has just had her second baby and her older daughter is just one year older than Isolde).  I then thought it would be nice with an extra pair of hands and my mum is always keen to go to England, and now she hadn't been for a while.  We started looking at flights and hotels in Oxford but the more we talked, we felt it was probably best not to bring Isolde, as we wanted to do some Christmas shopping as well - not Isolde's favourite pastime - and besides, with another baby on the way, when would I have another chance to travel sans children?  Probably not for a while.  And with Peter having made a trip in November it felt "fair" that I got my share of travel too. 

So it quickly developed into a London-focussed trip but with a day-trip out of town to see K.  We left mid-day on a Saturday and flew back on a Wednesday, which gave us a full three days plus some.  Last time I was in London, or England in general for that matter, was in February, and then I hardly had any spare time as I was doing a course, except for the weekend which we spent with K and her family (Isolde and Peter came along for that whole week). 

I hardly took any photos at all on this trip but here are the handful I took.

Christmas lights in Oxford, where we fought our way through the crowds our first evening in town and then didn't return for the remainder of the trip.

At least one visit to Starbucks was a must every day, mainly to take advantage of free wi-fi.

We stayed at the Hilton Metropol at Edgware Road, which I can recommend for the location and standard (at least at the rate we managed to get through hotels.se), but not necessarily for the view from our window, but then again we didn't spend that much time in the room so...

No visit to England without Afternoon or Cream Tea!  I think we managed to gobble three Cream Teas in as many days.  This one is at Muriel's Kitchen just outside South Kensington tube station (and we had one at Liberty too).

My mum with the latest addition to the M-O family, Seren.

A very delicious (non-alcoholic) drink in the hotel restaurant our last evening in town.

And of course no visit to England without fish & chips!  I like how it was presented - also at the hotel - on newspaper and with the lemon in a net.  And ketchup, mushy peas and tartar sauce on the side.

We were actually both very unlucky and lucky on this trip.  Let me tell you!

Story 1

• We're about to board the plane at Arlanda, Stockholm, and as the attendant checks my boarding pass and passport, she says "by the way, how far along [in the pregnancy] are you?".  "Week 27", I answer, "why do you ask?"  "I think you need a doctor's certificate from a certain week, but I think it's week 28", she says and asks me to step to the side so she can check in the computer.   She confirms that it's week 28 and writes a note in the system for the return flight so they will know then that I'm clear to fly.  I hadn't even thought about checking or getting a certificate as I thought it was from week 32 at the earliest that a certificate would be needed and I flew around the same time when I was pregnant with Isolde and no one bothered to ask then.  I know that you're not allowed to fly at all during the last four weeks, but I never thought it would be a problem with more than three months to go.  But turns out I might not have been allowed on the plane had it been one or two weeks later (I don't know if they mean as soon as you enter the 28th week, i.e. 27+1, or it applies from when you have completed 28 weeks, i.e. 28+0) so lucky start to the trip!

Story 2

• On the Monday of our trip we went to visit K and kids.  We had agreed that we would take the train from Paddington to Radley, the nearest train station to them, and she'd pick us up with the car.  The train was running 15 minutes late so I texted K to let her know and sent a last text two stops before Radley.  So far so good.  We get off at Radley and wait in the parking lot.  After about 15 minutes we start wondering where she is (before that I hadn't worried about her being late, just thinking that it's difficult to be on time with two little kids) and I check my mobile to see if she's texted to say that she's late.  There's no text but no reception either!  My mum checks her phone which has the same provider (Telenor) and she doesn't have any reception either.  After another 10 minute wait or so we go to the pub next to the station to borrow their phone but I just get through to K's voice mail (the girl at the pub says the area has very bad reception). 
• I remember that K has told me that there's a bus into Abingdon so we go to the bus stop and hop on the next bus coming.  I figure she has probably sent me a text saying we should meet her in Abingdon instead.  The bus passes by familiar neighbourhoods - I have visited them once before, in February, but at that time they picked us up at another train station and I didn't pay too close attention - but I decide it's safer to go all the way to Abingdon (10-15 min journey).  We get off the bus in the town square and proceed to Costa café where I ask to borrow the phone and leave another message for K, as our phones still don't have any reception - all very strange!  We order hot chocolates and a muffin and stay there for 45 minutes to an hour in the hope K hears my message.  When she doesn't show up I'm starting to think something must have happened.  And why are our phones still not working?! 
• I borrow the phone at Costa a last time and leave a new message, telling K we'll go to the library - I've spotted a sign - to try to use the Internet to find her address (which of course I haven't written down on a note, as I was so sure we'd be picked up and also that I would be able to use my mobile) and a map so we can walk to her house.  At the library they luckily have wi-fi so I can easily surf on my iPhone and eventually I find K's address in my Facebook messages.  We copy a local map (2 pages for 20 pence) and walk for about 15 minutes to K's house (which was the way the bus came so I had remembered correctly). 
• Over 2.5 hours after arriving at Radley we ring K's doorbell.  She opens with "I'm so happy to see you!  I take it you have received my messages then?"  We shake our heads and she tells us that she had to go to the A & E with her oldest, I, who fell off the bed and banged the back of her head on the bedside table.  They had just returned home and K had just heard my messages, as she wasn't able to pick up at the A & E. 
• Happy ending to the story in that we made it in end and I. wasn't seriously hurt, but what are the odds of our phones not working at that particular time?!  We didn't have any reception for the remainder of the day and I heard once back in Sweden that Telenor had had problems that day, especially with international roaming.  I'm so grateful for public libraries and the resources available there, as well as for friendly innkeepers letting you borrow their phones.

Story 3

• Wednesday AM and we're on our way to Heathrow on the tube when I get a text from British Airways that our flight has been cancelled.  We had seen on the morning news that there was icy frost and fog and that a lot of flights were cancelled or delayed but since our flight wasn't until 2 pm we thought it would be fine by then. 
• The text said to call a number or visit the website to get a refund or rebook onto another flight.  I try the number right away but of course it's impossible to get through, as thousands of stranded travellers are trying to ring at the same time.  I want to avoid the cost of international roaming so I forward the text to Peter back home in Sweden so he can go online for us.  When we get off at Hatton Cross to change for the right terminal train he calls and is about to rebook us on an early evening flight from City Airport, also with BA.  However, the system keeps on failing every time he tries to pay for it - probably because hundreds of other people are trying to book the same flights - and eventually it's not a 2,000 SEK flight anymore but a 14,000 SEK one.  Peter gives up on that flight and tells me he will check other (non-BA) alternatives but that we should proceed to the ticker counter as soon as we get to the terminal.
• As you could imagine, once we get there the queues are super-long and they are handing out a piece of paper with the phone number (same one I had already tried) and the link to the website, and also saying that most people will be rebooked on flights the following day.  We position ourselves in the queue but after a while Peter calls and tells us he has found tickets for a SAS flight later that evening.  It will cost us 8,000 SEK and we know we're probably only getting 2,000 SEK back for the cancelled flight*, but we really want to get home the same day (especially since my mum has a meeting scheduled early the following morning and I have a cold and would prefer to get home to my own bed), so we take it.  Besides, even if BA would have rebooked us the next day they would probably not have paid for the hotel, as weather problems are considered force majeure.
• We get out of the queue and make our way from Terminal 5 (unfortunately, as the shopping there is so much better) to Terminal 3 to check in for our SAS flight.  The flight doesn't leave until 9 pm so we spend almost 8 hours sitting around waiting and reading, with a few pitstops for food or coffee and some taxfree shopping.  I'm very happy Isolde wasn't on this trip with us, as it would have been quite tiring to entertain her at the airport for all those hours (and also being "lost" in Abingdon for almost 3-hour a couple of days earlier).

So, as you can see, a bit of adventure on this trip to say the least, but all with happy endings I guess! :)

* We know now we're getting the 2,000 SEK back but I'm still in contact with BA regarding the difference, and soon probably with my insurance company.  Wish me luck!