Friday Gallery: Buttons

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

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

Friday Gallery: My Favourite Room

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

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

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

Friday Gallery: Cooking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All for Children

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

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

Friday Gallery: Something New

Somebody is kicking, wanting to get out. But not until March!

Isolde at 21 Months

Time for a catch-up on our little rascal!  Isolde...

• waves her index finger and says "akta" (watch out) and wants us to sing Lilla snigel
• has also started putting her finger to her mouth and hushing if someone is sleeping or she's going to eat or there's something in the story on one of the children's TV series she's watching where they need to be quite.  I think she must have picked that up at pre-school, as well as the Lilla snigel song because even if we have sung it at home we haven't waved our fingers.
• has started sleeping with pillow and duvet now (didn't like it at all before) although she still moves around so much in her bed that she, the pillow and the duvet don't always stay in the same place.  Also wants to listen to the music box some friends of ours gave her for her first birthday to fall asleep, but we have to wind it up a few times before she settles in.  She still wakes up around midnight or 1 am and we're too lazy to put her back in her bed so she sleeps with us the rest of the night.  But some nights she doesn't wake until 4 or  5 am. 
• is talking more and more and tries to repeat words we say, but still it's mostly bla bla.  Even though she says few clear words she has said her first two-word sentence, or three even: "e de?" or "va e de?" (what is that?), which she asks a lot.  If that counts.  It's funny how she sometimes tries to explain something and she looks at you intensely wondering "don't you understand what I'm saying" but usually she gives up instead of getting frustrated.
• is getting better and better at jigsaw puzzles though sometimes she gets frustrated - or is just lazy - and wants us to fit the pieces.
• has much more body control than before and can climb almost everywhere and maintains balance in (or most often on) places I didn't think she would.
• gets to make a lot of every-day choices as it simplifies our lives and means less conflict - and is also good for her development.  This means we give her a choice between for example two shirts to wear or she gets to pick what book we should read.  It's amazing how clear she is in telling us what she wants, from mundane choices such as which of her children's favourites on SVT Play she wants to watch right now, to what she wants to play and eat or do (or us to do).
• always wants to help out when we're cooking and even if we're just heating somethign in the microwave she thinks she's missing out and drags her chair to the counter so she can see what we're doing and help.  She climbs up and down her Tripp Trapp highchair without difficulties and we removed the rail some time ago.
• still a major thumb sucker, but it feels like she's dong it a little bit less, but it might just be wishful thinking from my side.
• really likes pre-school now.  She runs - or almost jumps - inside in the morning and hardly has time to say goodbye.  The only times she wines a little is if we're too slow helping her take off her coat and shoes or put rain gear on if they are starting outside, and she has time to realise I guess that we're leaving.  They call her "Little Sunshine" there so she must be really happy-go-lucky there most of the time.  She eats and sleeps well.  When we pick her up she wants to leave right away though, but she's in happy mood.  It's good to know they get to see her real personality now.
• likes playing her way of hide-and-seek: she covers her eyes with her hands and because she can't see us, she thinks we can't see her.  And she likes doing the loop in our flat through the hallway, kitchen and our bedroom and back to the hallway, or in the opposite order, and having us chase her, or vice versa, with an element of hiding as well.
• In her room she plays mostly with her kitchen, builds with Duplo or runs around with my old wooden pram (well, not just in the room but all over the flat).
• likes washing her mouth and hands after a meal, and her hands when we come home after having played outside, and she's always telling us to put back the towel on its hook afterwards. She's a lot into routine and order now - must be from pre-school or something normal at this age anyway.
• is very affectionate, more than ever, and wants to hug and kiss and cuddle all the time. It's the best feeling ever when she comes and puts her arms around your neck and gives you a big kiss.
• tries to dress herself but is usually only successful with wellies and other shoes that are easy to put on.  And she can put hats on and she likes wearing them, which is fortunate now when it's getting chillier.
• takes off her nappy herself and wants to be "free", however, that doesn't mean she's ready to use the potty unfortunately.  But maybe feeling nappies are uncomfortable is the first step.
• hides things in the subwoofer next to our sofa all the time.  We thought she had stopped but now we find things inside it all the time.  If something is missing, check the woofer first! :) 
• weighs about 9.7 lg and I think she's 80 cm tall now.  Her hair is getting really long (but I want her fringe to grow longer before we have it cut) and she has 12 teeth now (four front teeth both in upper and lower and then two molars both up and down).

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.

The Great Outdoors

We spent part of the weekend at the country house (and the rest at a two-year birthday party as well as dinner at my parents). On Saturday we had beautiful autumn weather, chilly but sunny, perfect for some play by the lake and a walk in the woods.

Friday Gallery: Evening

I think I forgot to mention last Friday that Désirée is hostess of the month and has picked this month's themes. This week's theme is evening and I've picked a selection of Instagram photos to illustrate what our evenings are usually like these days.

This is where we spend most of our evenings - in bed or on the sofa. 
 




And Isolde doesn't only watch Teletubbies, we read books too!

And sometimes these parents get to go out, like to a Lady Gaga concert!

Happy (but perhaps a bit tired) concert goers!



And let's finish with a beautiful summer evening pic!



Can't wait for evenings on the balcony to return in the spring!

21 Months (yesterday)!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Friday Gallery: Colourful

I'm on a business trip to Malmö (going back home tomorrow morning) so will have to make do with whatever I can find on the iPhone (have an iPad with me too but no photos on it) for today's theme.

Friday Gallery: Autumn Feeling

As I have most Fridays off this autumn and Peter's work hours are pretty flexible, we decided to head out to the summer house (which is really a year-round house) for the weekend already around 2pm (after a lovely lunch with friends). It's been one of those miserable autumn days with rain and with 12 degrees in the air, the house was pretty cold when we got here. But now after a few hours of working the fire (and the radiators) and cosying up underneath blankets with a cuppa, the house is starting to reach a decent temperature. Tomorrow I'm hoping for a bit of sunshine so we can go for a walk to look at the changing leaves, pick apples and get into that real autumn feeling.

Isolde at 19-20 Months

Double-whammy this time as I never got around to publish the 19-month report.  In bullets, in no particular order.  Right now (or lately rather) Isolde...

• is a bit obstinate (though in a cute way) and throws a lot of tantrums (terrible twos already?) with exaggerated reactions and behaviour.  Sometimes when she gets frustrated she sort of scratches herself on her face before she realises that the only one it is hurting is herself.  
• likes to draw with crayons and play with pegs.  She can sit for a while but soon it's more fun to sort the crayons or the pegs in boxes (or throw them on the floor).

 
• is talking a little bit more but not that many clear words still though it seems to be coming now when she's started preschool (as they don't understand what she wants as well as we do)
• has always liked to dance but seems to be in a dancing period including spinning around and doign some sort of tap routine.  Maybe time to teach her gangnam style?!
• is really good at some iPhone app games.  It's also amazing how she knows where to find stuff in the phone and recognises the icons even if they are so small.
• still hates to have her teeth brushed and it hasn't helped with an electric brush
• likes wearing a hair pin but we're losing them quickly and need to buy a new batch soon.  Her hair is getting really long but I want her fringe to grow before we cut it.  She seems to have inherited my type of hair: lots of it!
• climbs all over: chairs, tables, and at the playground, and is also getting more creative in getting to stuff by pulling up chairs or similar to get where she wants.  The other day she took her little children's chair and put it on top of glass coffee table and was about to climb up when I discovered what she was up to!
• likes a quite varied diet but could also eat pasta and sausage (falukorv) all the time if we let her.  She eats pretty well at pre-school but korv is probably her favourite there too.  The other day she ran and sat down at the table as soon as they said they were serving korv even though they hadn't set the table yet.
• likes playing with water, both at the dinner table and in the tub
• knows most animals even if she can't say the words.  Imitates some animal sounds but mostly the cat and the horse.
• is very attached to her clothes and dressing and undressing (but mostly undressing) is a daily struggle.  Sometimes when we've succeeded to get them off her she wants to cuddle with them.  My mum says it's about change she's going through having started pre-school.  What's good about her liking clothes is that she likes wearing shoes, jacket and a hat so so far we don't have a problem dressing her warm enough when we go out into the Swedish autumn.
• likes to kiss and cuddle a lot and she still likes picking on an ear when she cuddles.
• has a few favourite TV shows (Charley Bear, Shain the Sheep and Babar among others) but is sick of Teletubbies now
• doesn't like to sit in the pushchair too much but luckily she can walk quite far now
• tries to jump but can't do it yet
• is not interested in the potty but she tells us when she wants her nappy changes and as soon as she's done no 2
• likes to stand on a chair and watch (and taste) when we cook dinner
• plays with her kitchen and having us taste from the pot and the (soft toy) vegetables and also likes driving cars (that are actually Brio trains - we need to get her some proper cars) through her toy garage
• has slept a lot in our bed over the summer as we've been too lazy to get her to go back to sleep in her own bed again when she wakes around midnight or 1 am (or later).  We want to get back to the routine where she would only sleep in our bed in the early morning, if at all, but we'll wait until she's more used to preschool and the new "regime".  But I hope that's soon because I don't sleep very well with her next to me.  Peter is not as sensitive and she also sleeps more towards my side and kicks me as she constantly moves around in her sleep (as all children seem to do!).
• weights around 9.5 kg now but I have no idea how tall she is but maybe around 80 cm?

Trying adult size bouncy chair

On the Fifteenth Day at Preschool...

...Isolde marched in, wanted to immediately take off her jacket and shoes and start playing, and just turned around quickly to wave to daddy. Let's hope for the same tomorrow!

Kitchen Generations

Read an article about Swedish kitchen trends over time from the 1940s onwards in the JM (home construction company) magazine written by Camilla Tollstoy that I thought I'd recount here.

1940s: Refrigerators are the latest thing The development of "homes for the people" (folkhemmet) leads to major changes in home design, and especially in the kitchen, and standardised measurements are introduced. Kitchens are painted in calm, safe colours following WW2.

1950s: Swedish design (Stig Lindberg and others) become popular. The freezer and frozen goods have their real breakthrough. Kitchens are functional with light, stainless counters and easily cleaned spaces.

1960s: Plastic is the material and if something breaks or get worn we buy new. Kitchens are designed in bright colours with matching tiling. Ikea opens in Kungens Kurva.

1970s: Collectivism affects kitchen design through home bars, lentil casserole and informal group dinners. Brown, orange and green are in fashion as well as rustic pine.

1980s: Sweden is inspired by Dallas and Wall Street and the yuppie era reaches the kitchen with glass tables, crystal lamps and high finish work tops.

1990s: Back to basics with environmentally friendly natural materials both on floors and counters. Birch and beech with cobalt blue for colour. Backdrops (painted or wallpaper) are the new trend.

2000s: The economy is on a high, interest rates are low and many use the money to renovate. White or vanilla yellow country style kitchens OR more modern style in oak or dark wood are trending.

2010s: White, white and a little "light and fresh". Kitchens can't be big enough. Home staging has come to stay. We are inspired by restaurant kitchens: stainless tops, luxurious fridges and freezes, cookers with gas, electricity and grill functions (she forgot to mention induction here).

Friday Gallery: Harvest Time

This year I haven't taken any pictures of any late summer/early autumn produce so I had to go into my 2011 archive to find these sun-soaked and delicious apples.  We were hoping to go to the summer house this weekend - where these trees have hopefully produced some apples yet again - but it's just supposed to rain and we have a one-year birthday party to attend tomorrow anyway, it will have to wait until next weekend. 

Nice Memories

Going through the summer photos and reminiscing about our week in the south of France and Italy.

Our favourite beach in Nice, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, a 20 minute-drive east of the city

Overnight trip to Italy - here in Camogli

A playground in Santa Margherita where we spent the night - this one had swings but in France we weren't able to find a single playground with swings, what is that about?!

Our accommodation in Santa Margherita, an old castle called La Vela

Play area at Nice airport

Friday Gallery: Daily Life

Not feeling that well tonight (hope it's just something temporary and not Isolde's slapped cheek) so today it's literally just photos and no text.

Slapped Cheek Disease

Isolde has now been back at pre-school for two days after her second bout with germs since starting in August.  The first week was induction, the second week she was sick for a few days and then attended Wednesday-Friday, and the third week she was there Monday-Tuesday and Wednesday they called at lunch time and said she had a fever.  We thought she would recover over the weekend but Monday she still had a temperature and Tuesday was needed as a "almost well"- day (they want them to have a fever-free day before returning if possible), so Wednesday was her first day this week.

On Monday we took her to the doctor since she'd had a pretty high fever except a few dips since Wednesday and it didn't seem to be going away (though that evening it was all gone of course), and they confirmed our suspicions (based on some Internet research) that she had the so-called fifth disease, also called slapped cheek disease due to the particular look of the facial rash that comes with it (its Hungarian name, butterfly pox, illustrates better what the rash looked like). 

We have never had to take her to the doctor before (except the regular health and development checks) and I was very happy to see that they did a thorough job.  In addition to examining her and listening to her heart and lungs, etc. they took a saliva swab test to make sure it wasn't tonsillitis (she seemed to have a sore throat) and also a blood sample (index finger quick one) to check for infection (sänkan, whatever that's called in English), but both turned out negative. 

Today Peter's mum picked Isolde up from pre-school as Peter's in Switzerland for work and I had a work thing until 6pm and when I got home Isolde was in a fantastic mood (and had been all afternoon according to farmor) and we had a really nice evening together until bedtime.  We were playing and cuddling and it seemed like she was trying to telling me stories - of pre-school perhaps? - in her way (since she doesn't have a big vocabulary yet).  She's been very impatient and throwing a lot of tantrums lately - probably partly because there's been a lot of change and she's also approaching that age and partly because she hasn't been completely well over the last couple of weeks - so it was wonderful to see a different little girl tonight. 

Considering she had only been at the pre-school for 5½ days before this week she's been doing reasonably well there.  She cries when I drop her off (and starts when we enter that strip of the street) and she's been spending a lot of time with the teachers and she gets upset if she wants to sit on their lap in between playing for a while and they are occupied with another child.  But she's napping and eating and I think it's a good sign that she wants to sit and cuddle with the teachers.  In a couple of weeks time teher should hopefully be fewer tears and more playtime.

Friday Gallery: Last of Summer

The new and revamped Show & Tell has been launched and I don't want to miss that, do I!  It's now called Friday Gallery (Galleri fredag) and it's a photo challenge rather than text.  So no long narratives needed which suits me with limited time on my hands right now. 

Annika is hostess for September (and then Désirée for October and Victoria in November) and she's chosen the following themes for this month:

7 September - Last of Summer (or Late Summer - Sensommar)
14 September - Daily life (or Everyday Life - Vardag)
21 September - Harvest Time (Skördetid)
28 September - Autumn Feeling (Höstkänsla)

All are welcome to join!  Just tell Annika and she will put you on the list so participants know where to come and read - or look since it will be mostly photos.

So, to my contribution to this week's theme!  What does late summer mean to me?

Going for that swim that is perhaps the last one of the summer.

Beautiful evening sun over the lake

Spending as much time as possible outside on the sunny and warm days

Having to wear sweaters (and probably a blanket) when having dinner outside and enjoying the sunset before returning home.



From now on late summer will also be "back-to-school" time.

No end-of-summer without crayfish!

Finding a pair of shoes on the end-of-summer sale and at the same time shopping autumn and winter wear for your child.

Lock your Bike!

Yesterday morning I witnessed a bicycle theft! Well, I didn't realise it at first even though I felt there was something suspicious about the whole thing.

I was dropping off Isolde at pre-school and I had just turned into the street of her pre-school on my bike (with Isolde in her chair behind me; the pre-school is very near but it saves me time going to work afterwards to take the bike rather than walk) when I saw a guy passing by the entrance to the building where the pre-school is located (which is a residential building where people live as well). I wasn't sure if he had come out of the building or around the corner but he turned around and backed a few steps and climbed up on a bike that was parked outside (that wasn't locked so there was no unlocking involved) and pedalled away past me and Isolde (I had just stopped at this stage and was just about to unbutton Isolde from her chair). I thought at first he had briefly forgotten he had the bike - I've done that on many occasions and started walking a few metres and then remembered "oh yes, I took the bike today" - but I had a suspicious feeling because he seemed slightly hesitant and I got that feeling of someone grabbing an opportunity.

Everything went very quickly so I didn't have time to react. I'm not sure what I could have done anyway - perhaps asking "is that really your bike?" - especially with a small child with m, but afterwards I felt like I should have stopped him somehow.

Literally less than a minute after as I was still getting Isolde out of her bike chair and getting her stuff out of the basket a guy comes out of the building and starts looking around and looking confused. So I ask him "do you happen to look for a bike?". "Something strange just happened" and I tell him the story. He asked which direction the guy went and what he looked like and I tell him. He sets off to look for the thief while Isolde and I go inside. A few minutes later when I come back outside the guy, i.e. the rightful owner of the bike, comes back still without the bike (the thief probably got quite far in a short amount of time) and we chat again. He had literally been inside the building for a minute to drop off his child in one of the older age groups and he didn't think it was necessary to lock it for that brief moment. I have often thought about not locking for the same reasons and because it's a generally safe area of town, but I guess bike theft in one of the most common crimes and one that doesn't get solved very often either. I usually don't lock my bike when I stop at 7Eleven on my way to work but I certainly will now.

Weekend Fun

We've just had one of those busy but fun weekends.

• Lady Gaga in Globen on Friday night with some colleagues from work (Isolde stayed with Peter's parents). It was a great show! She's such a talented musician and she has some good messages (well, when she talks in between songs, she does; the story that goes with her music is a bit weird) even though one or two too many clichés.

• Crayfish dinner with good friends on Saturday evening including some play time for the kids before dinner (including a walk to look at the sheep where Isolde fell head-first in a huge puddle and was a bit shocked but didn't even cry; she's a tough cookie that one).

• Swim lesson for Isolde in the morning (Peter took her while I was getting ready at home) and Isolde's cousin Olivia's Christening in the afternoon (with the reception at their new flat where they just moved in earlier this week).

And tomorrow work for us and pre-school for Isolde. The past week went very well, hopes it continues that way!