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.

Push Present

Or push presents rather.  My husband has really spoiled me this time, especially since it was a relatively easy* delivery this time (although I felt rather spoiled  last time too).

A saltwater pearl necklace that will go very well with the bracelet Peter gave me for my birthday.  Now I just need an occasion to wear them! 

And one of the newest Kindles, Kindle Paperwhite, that comes with a very nice leather cover.  Perhaps now I will actually get some books read!  I welcome book recommendations!  Speaking of books, guess what book is no 1 on the top 100 books on Kindle?! "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared" by Swede Jonas Jonasson, a book that has become very popular and has now been translated into English (and perhaps other languages?) and is also being filmed.

* Although it's never painfree or pleasant of course, except for the finale, or the end-product really :)

Friday Gallery: Bad Habits

Penny has chosen a very difficult topic for this Friday, at least as far as illustrating with pictures is concerned!  But I'm going to make it easy for myself and post something funny I saw today.

Considering Isolde's addiction with iPhones and iPads and with her approaching toilet training age, she will probably need one of these:

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?

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: Joy

Today's theme, as chosen by Désirée, is something that makes you happy.  Shopping makes most of us happy, right?!  So I have to show you my latest purchase!  Mums and dads out there should pay particular attention!

We've been thinking about getting an extra pushchair that is smaller than the Bugaboo Cameleon and that we could bring on trips, be they abroad or to Ikea or to the supermarket, and our plan was to get a MacLaren.  But then I joined this pram group on Facebook (and got addicted...) and heard about the Babyzen Yoyo.  Such a cool and clever pushchair!  And since both Peter and I like "gadgets" (and Peter is an even more avid tech fan), we just had to get one.  Watch the video and you'll see why!




Yoyo hasn't come to Sweden yet (but will do in February-March next year and maybe as early as December to select shops) so I ordered it from a French site (which also had it in black fabric, most of the other sites only had the other four colours).  I ordered it on Monday and today it arrived!  I unpacked and put it together (which wasn't too difficult) this evening and I'm looking forward to taking it for a ride tomorrow! 

Shopping abroad for prams is becoming quite a big business these days actually as it almost always means money and time saved (the lead times for buying a pram in Sweden can be 6-8 weeks compared to not even a week from some other European country - UK, the Netherlands and Poland seem most popular).  Before this purchase I had only used British Pramworld and they've been great in terms of service and return-policy, and so far Little Design seems very good too.

Potty

Isolde peed on the potty for the first time today!  We only got it a few days ago and have just encouraged her to sit on it a few times and today when Peter put her on it she did it!  It was probably just a one-off but we're proud anyway!

We're not going actively potty-train her yet since she's not even 15 months old yet but they say you can start training them at least to be aware from age 10 months so we thought we'd give it a shot.  So treating it more as playtime for now - carrying it around is fun - and letting her getting used to this new gadget in the bathroom.  The step from being able to pee on the potty and actually holding when out and about is of course big. 

This is the model we have got, the Hoppop Donut.  It's supposed to be good and I liked the design.  Yes, that's important too! :)

IT Girl

I promised Marie and Anki I'd post these photos ! :)

Stop taking photos and help me!

Are you going to help me or what?!

It's not funny anymore!

Pekaboo Farm happy again!

Origami

A bit tempted to get one but we don't really need another pushchair.  But it has a button and it's automatic and it self-charges and... Fitting name by the way! 

In Remote Heaven

She has loads of new toys following her first birthday party yesterday and what does she do? Discovers the house's four remotes and dad's iPhone lined up on the sofa.

Sack 'N Seat

Our newest baby related purchase is a Sack 'n seat, a foldable baby seat for use when there's no high chair around - which is often the case when visiting friends who don't have children or going to less baby friendly cafés or restaurants. We used it for the first time on Sunday (except for a trial session at home) and we can definitely recommend it. It folds into a small sachet that's easily stored in the nappy bag or underneath the pram. The bag it comes / is folded in, is part of the chair so it can't be lost. This chair is considered much safer than other portables fitted/hung onto the table and it also fits most types of chairs. The price is very reasonable, 199 SEK, and we got it on sale for 149 (Jollyroom.se).



Via Anna's iPhone

Cracked

My iPhone now looks something like this...


Have dropped it several times before without damage but today I was very unlucky as it landed on a tiny pebble. The touchscreen still works but I don't want to put it to my ear (the glass is sharp and shredding tiny pieces of glass) so it's useless for phonecalls! On the other hand I do have a handsfree so maybe I could live with it until October when iPhone 5 comes?! Peter has a Blackberry - the old crackberry before iPhone came along - he isn't using so I could also use that if I don't opt for getting the glass replaced. It is a rather expensive fix but I have found a place that does it for 650 SEK and I've heard there's an even cheaper place that charges around 500.

Lucky me we have an iPad too so I whatever happens I don't deal with my i-diction right now! ;)

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

Day 12: In My Handbag

My handbag is full of the usual boring stuff - purse, phone, chewing gum, business cards, coupons for very shops, tissues, lip balm, etc. - but I won't show you any photo evidence. Instead I want to show you a very clever accessory that I always carry in my handbag: a handbag hanger! Works anywhere there is a table or counter. Mine is a freebie with Peter's company's logo on it but you can buy them from various places. The one below even has a mirror on, another must-carry for many women!

Images borrowed from the Internet

Blogoversary

Today I've been blogging for five years!! Well, I actually started already at the end of September 2004 but I only wrote two posts in 2004 and then took a break for a few months before I started for real in March 2005!

This is actually the first year I'm celebrating (read: remembering) so I have added a little gadget to help me remember it every year! :)

The Pramcycle

Peter thought I should blog about this - he loves all types of smart and technical gadgets!

The combined bicycle and push chair! It turns into the one from the other in 20 seconds. It's a bit pricey (€1,500) but buying a bike and a pram cost quite a lot too I guess. It's not that surprising that it's been developed by a Dutch company - I've always seen them as a biking people.





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