ok I admit, I'm being lazy

but I think it's ok after a tummy week : ) We are all much better now, but my tummy is still sore and I only eat porridge and yogurt, but I realise that I must start eating a more varied diet soon, just not today. I will skip the Friday theme today - Indispensable and concentrate on being with Axel and getting better instead. The sun is shining here today so we will head out soon for some much needed fresh air!

Closed due to Tummy bug

Hope we all feel better soon, this has dragged on since Sunday!

Show and Tell - Coffee

This month Fritt ur hjartat decide the themes -
6 februari VÄSKOR (Bags)
13 februari NÄRMAST HJÄRTAT (Closest to the heart)
20 februari KAFFE (Coffee)
27 februari OUMBÄRLIGT (indispensable)

I only got two things in common with coffee, I used to work at Starbucks when I first came to London 10 years ago, and secondly – I love the smell of coffee but not too keen on its taste. So, instead of writing around a subject I feel no real love towards I’m going to mingle with my real love – Mr TEA : ) When I first arrived to this strange and wonderful country I laughed at the obsession English people seemed to have for their tea (they even call their dinner tea sometimes which is really quite confusing). It’s estimated that 165 million cups are enjoyed by the Brits every day (http://www.tea.co.uk/factsheets.php). For many years I was an observer and only drank the occasionally cup now and again, but when I started working in an Estate agent’s my working colleagues got me hooked, I became a real tea drinker – no wonder as every time you make a cup for yourself it’s usual office policy to ask your fellow colleagues if they want a cup (yes that’s correct, it can quite quickly spiral out of control if you are more than 5 people working – in fact it would be really interesting to know the statistics of how many hours a week able educated workers makes tea each week and how much companies actually pay their workers in wages whilst making tea- think we’re talking about hours and billions : ).

When I moved down to Brighton and studied, I drank an enormous amount of tea in front of the Laptop and then it just spiralled out of control when I started working with me having up to 8 (big) cups per day. Unfortunately, research shows that caffeine might harm the foetus so when I fell pregnant I cut down to only 2 cups a day, it was painful but of course worth it : ) The moment I had Axel and was in the care of NHS (the National health service) they “made” me a tea member again by rolling in the tea trolley about 10 times a day (at least lol). It tasted divine, even more so just after giving birth being so tired and hungry all the time after 9 months of nausea. There are these advert on the telly about Brits wanting their own tea whilst abroad, and yes, I confess, I am one of those people, I do bring proper English brew with me when I go to Sweden (the closest Sweden comes to “proper” tea is Konsum’s Blå vitt English breakfast tea). And not just that, I sneak with the bags in the kitchen, not because I’m embarrassed, oh no, I sneak cos I’m afraid of not having enough for my whole trip should they be placed on the breakfast table for everyone to use – spoken like a proper addict! Anyhow, after all this writing about tea I must go and make myself a cuppa before the little one wakes up ; )

Imagine owning one of these combined tea makers and alarm clocks, brilliant!

Hope you all have a great weekend, I'm hoping the paper cutter will arrive today before I head out so I can start with the invitations tomorrow. J might have to work this weekend but that's ok, we could do with some extra pennies (who couldn't!). But we are having a couple (well, just us) evening, some nice food, wine and a good chat, a date at home : )

Här är fler Fredagsbloggare (more Friday bloggers) : Nilla, Anna, Desiree, Annika, Anne, Petra ,Anna-Saltis ,Millan, Anki, Marianne, Victoria, Lia, Cecilia, Leopardia, Marina, Marie, Strandmamman, Ulrika, Jemaya, MiaD, Ingabritt, maisoui, Moster Mjölgumpa, Erica, Taina, sparkling, Christel, ,emma, jennie, musikanta,

Thursday before Friday: )

Had a nice lunch with the girls yesterday and then went to Sainsbury's, but on my way there my flipping dentist called and said they found another hole in one of my teeth, so have to book a time and pay them another 90 bloody pounds.. arrrhhgggg! Was not a happy shopper, but managed to only buy things that was on offer so our food bill was cheap at least : )

Creativity overflow!

Lately I've had the urge to create - this blog, crochet and now wedding invitations. Maybe it's because I'm not working at the mo, think my brain is in need for some good games of TP instead of all this creativity, unfortunately our edition is an American one from 1984 so really flipping hard and not really enjoyable after hours of play and only two small "pluppar" (probably in the entertaining and literature genre). Me and J spent yesterday evening ohhing and ahhing over different fonts and designs for the invitations, ordering paper cutting machines and glues, now we feel a bit lost just waiting for the stuff we ordered, just want to kick off the Ford production line real soon, bring it on!

Axel got a cold poor thing.

Ohhh the weekend went too fast! Had my hair done Saturday morning, so nice to sit and just do nothing for a 2 hours, just read my book and some gossip magazines and sat and watched the world go by. I got lovely tulips when I got home (Valentines day) and some chocolate and I gave J two pocket books (one being the best every first instalment of the Stieg Larsson trilogy books- a must). We went for lunch at some friends house but then Axel got a bit warm so we went home. He got even worse in the evening and the night was slightly painful with Ax waking up every hour. Then everything got worse on Sunday, Axel still had a cold, when we were going to go to Homebase the car refused to start even tho it's actually quite new - the battery was flat cos we never use it.. Gonna MOT it on Wednesday and then we are going to sell it, no use waisting money on a car we never drive and we live so central anyway we can walk or take the bus almost everywhere otherwise we can always hire a car over the weekend should we fancy a mini road trip. We where all a bit off spirit but manage to buy some "ingredients" for our wedding invitations (and I bought the last bits today so the production will commence soon : ). But J and his friend manage to get the car rolling when we got back which was great, and then we ordered some take away to cheer ourselves up and watch a movie called "Definitely, maybe" which was just perfect for a lazy evening : )

Last night was even more painful unfortunately. Axel woke up every hour and then by 4 he had had enough poor thing, I couldn't get him to sleep again so I pushed him in the pram in the living room while lying on the sofa from 4 to 6 in the morning when I woke J up and he took over. But Axel finally fell asleep again with his daddy on the sofa and they both slept to 7.30 which was nice for them. I really really hope he will sleep a bit better tonight!

Me and Axel on Friday the 13th Feb

(hard to get both of us looking in the photo)

Axel's first -

He tried Butternut squash puree for the first time today and loved it (well he has liked everything so far).

- He also tried to drink cooled boiled water for the first time from a cup, went ok, he mostly just bit the cup (but he seemed to get some water and he really enjoyed playing with the cup which is the most important thing so far).

Fredags tema - Closest to the heart

This month Fritt ur hjartat decide the themes -
13 februari NÄRMAST HJÄRTAT (Closest to the heart)
20 februari KAFFE (Coffee)
27 februari OUMBÄRLIGT (indispensable)

Narmast Hjartat- been thinking about this topic and decided that I want to write about two special people that are very close to my heart - Jonathan and Axel. I feel so lucky and happy that I have got a chance to get to know them both, who would have known that we would be here 6 years on, and still very much in love. I will celebrate with both my boys tomorrow and look forward to the 17 July when I will have to privilege to become J's wife.

"All that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you"

More Friday bloggers (fler Fredagsbloggare): Nilla, Anna, Desiree, Annika, Anne, Petra ,Anna-Saltis ,Millan, Anki, Marianne, Victoria, Lia, Cecilia, Leopardia, Marina, Marie, Strandmamman, Ulrika, Jemaya, MiaD, Ingabritt, maisoui, Moster Mjölgumpa, Erica, Taina, sparkling, Christel, ,emma, jennie, musikanta,

Nicer Thursday

Had a much nicer day today, walked for about 2 hours (a bit longer than I thought when I set out!!), returned some books that I meant to do long time ago and applied for Axel's Swedish personal id number at the Swedish Consulate in Hove. Feels so good doing things like that, tick off the list : )

Boring Wednesday

Went to see Angelina Jolie's new movie - Changeling today, was quite good but unfortunately the sound was just too high in the cinema (even tho it was suppose to be their "big scream" baby movie of the week i.e specially for new mothers and babies). Axel started to cry a couple of times cos he got scared, not nice. We left a bit before the movie ended (we both had enought) but then he calmed down a bit so we stood just by the entrance where the sound was a bit less. Think I'm gonna go and complain tomorrow and see what their procedures are cos I would like to go again but not with the current volume. It's the new Woody Allen movie next week, but we'll see.

Been feeling a bit low lately, we have to move to a bigger flat cos it's really quite hard to live in a smallish one bedroom flat with Axel and the bathroom is really mouldy which isn't nice. BUT to be able to afford to move to something bigger we will have to sell our car as we have a loan on it that we pay every month. It's OK I guess, just so depressing. And J is working long hours (no, not overtime unfortunately) at the mo so me and Axmax are alone a lot, the recession is really here, cuts everywhere and no jobs for me to apply to, and if there are any the pay is really bad and a lot of competition which feels so daunting, might just have to stay home in the autumn and wait for the wind to change. Enough complaining for one night! Hope tomorrow will be better : )

in the land of playgroups

Had a good day out and about today (no rain which was nice), went to Costa for a cup tea with A & S and then on to a playgroup with song and bubbles. Axel liked everything except this parachute sheet that we had over the babies bless him, maybe he was just tired cos he fell asleep on our way home. Can't believe it's already quarter to 5, where did this day go??

Rain rain rain

It's been raining nonstop today and the hairdresser's where fully booked so we have just stayed inside eating sweets and longed for warmer weather : )


Åhus beach (where I grew up)

I'm loosing my hair : (

When I was pregnant with Axel I developed this lovely shine non-greasy hair, just the kind of hair you wish for. After a while you take it for granted that it will stay that way, you deny the knowledge of anything else (that kind of feeling when you have borrowed a CD and had it for so long that you forget that you have to give it back and when you do you feel like you have given 'your' CD away and feel a bit cheated even tho you know that it wasn't yours to start with!). My lovely hair is going down the drains.. literally... And it's become really dark - mouse coloured. J's mum is coming over today and babysit so me and J can go out eating or go to the cinema, hope she can stay tomorrow so I can highlight my hair, I'm also very tempted to cut it in a bob, we'll see : )

oh oh oh Axel laugh with a sound today - isn't life just wonderful : )

Axel about 2 weeks old (Sept 08)

A lovely day in Brighton!

The sun was shining today in Brighton and it felt like spring. We set out to look at wedding party places, went to see about 7 and now have a couple of good contenders, nothing fancy, just a nice function room in a pub to celebrate with our friends but some of the room did not even have any windows which I find a bit disturbing, definitely come July with the light summer evenings... ohhh I can't wait! We are going to make our minds up this week and then get cracking on producing some homemade invitation cards, well try at least... if they are really bad we can always say that Axel did them and he is not so familiar with the scissors and glue just yet : )


Me and Axel in a lovely little cafe (who charged too much for a party unfortunately)

Friday night

Went out with the girls last night, nice food, drinks and company!

Show and Tell, Fredags tema

I have decided to join a Friday Theme group called “Show and Tell” (if they let me : ) It’s a group where one person decides on a theme for the week (on Fridays), everyone shares their story or their account of the subject, then you read the others and comment, sounds great!

This month Fritt ur hjartat decide the themes -

6 februari VÄSKOR (Bags)
13 februari NÄRMAST HJÄRTAT (Closest to the heart)

20 februari KAFFE (Coffee)

27 februari OUMBÄRLIGT (indispensable)

Most of the group members write in Swedish – I’m not sure if I will write in English or Swedish, I might just write in whichever language I feel it’s the most appropriate for the theme and of course what I fancy. The first theme – Bags – will be in English : )

I used to have many bags, I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself a bag hoarder, but J always thought I had too many just when I thought I really “needed” a new one. I truly believe that a bag mirrors someone’s lifestyle – it’s the key to someone’s life and not to be taken lightly. My bag-style has gone from a capital girl in London to a practical mummy on the coast - and my bags have gone from a two figure number to just two..! And these two are split into two categories - with or without Axel in tow. The first is the one I had before Axel --->

It’s small, very practical with a lot of different pockets and it’s an “over the shoulder” bag which I like (after being properly mugged when I lived in London I think I have developed bag OCD – need to continually look that my bag is indeed closed and that it is safe, preferably wrapped around my legs twice should I be sitting down. I even go as far as trying to get my friends to do the same thing – very annoying!! and if they don’t then I can’t stop staring at it like a guard dog.. oh well...) It was a bargain from Next and now when I write this I cannot believe it has come to this – only TWO bags oh my God : )

The second one is my Axel bag – I love it!! I bought it when I was around 16 weeks pregnant with him, actually I think it was one of the first things I bought. I had seen it before and was determined to get it, it’s very me and it fits the pram like a hand in a glove… most people buy a matching changing bag after they bought the pram, but not me ha ha. It’s of course super practical BUT it’s also beautiful… well worth £60 in my view : )

This is the bag I would love to buy for myself this spring– my “I don’t need a change bag anymore mum bag”.. What a beauty!

Bag from Orla Kiely

Här är fler Fredagsbloggare: Nilla, Anna, Desiree, Annika, Anne, Petra ,Anna-Saltis ,Millan, Anki, Marianne, Victoria, Lia, Cecilia, Leopardia, Marina, Marie, Strandmamman, Ulrika, Jemaya, MiaD, Ingabritt, maisoui, Moster Mjölgumpa, Erica, Taina, sparkling, Christel, ,emma, jennie, musikanta,