Tuesday

Had a really nice weekend, we went to the Swedish school on Saturday morning, they got a Swedish teacher there for adults as well so J came along, he thought it was great so gonna try and continue with it every Saturday. Next week the whole school will do some Easter decorations and then eat Semlor (a very Swedish tradition - basically a sweet bun with some whipped cream and a paste similar to marzipan with some icing sugar dusted on top, they are lovely). It's really nice to get out in the morning and get going instead of just chilling at home on the weekends. We went for a walk on the Downs with J's work on Sunday which was nice - was a sponsored walk for Breast cancer research in UK, it was quite cold and muddy but the views on the downs are just stunning and it was for a good cause! I felt the weekend went much slower (or maybe the same speed, but on the Sunday night it felt like we done loads) much more than last weekend when we ended up doing nothing which gives me slight anxiety on Sunday evenings ha ha.

Axel tooth has come through now and I can see the second one just under the skin, hopefully both should be out soon so we can have the usual happy Axel back, feel so sorry for him at the mo, must hurt a bit, but giving him some Calpol and extra cuddles and kisses which I think helps... Me on the other hand - my tooth is still not ok, I can not eat on one side and got ache, sharp pain and pulsating pain a lot. Not good, going to the dentist tomorrow AGAIN!!, feel a bit embarrassed going there so much, but J keeps telling me that it's them that should be embarrassed for not fixing my tooth correctly in the first place, so I keep telling myself that, it's even come to the point when I just want them to take it out or do a root canal - anything really to stop this underlying pain arrrgggggghhhhh.

J's mum is coming over today which will be nice, gonna go and have some lunch with J, I thought the weather would be better (it's cloudy and a bit cold), oh well..

Axel can now sit up all by himself without falling after a while, happened last week and now he is just practicing and practicing, so fascinating how quick they learn something new when they figure out how to do it!

Show and Tell: Om jag vann tio miljoner skulle jag...(If I won 10 millions I would....)

It's the last Friday in March and Erica’s' last week to decide on the theme, been really nice and upbeat subjects (although I missed the one last Friday).

I've been thinking about this week’s theme quite a lot, I love thinking "IF" day dreams, actually, I love to daydream in general, walking and thinking happy thoughts while feeling the warmth of the sun in my face. My friend Anneli introduced me to it many years ago when she told me she always daydreamed (even long stories and complex scenarios), we were working at Kodak developing photos and in great need of some dreams : ) I gave it a try and realised I loved it! Anyway, back to Show and Tell. As I live in Brighton where a one bedroom tiny flat costs around 2 million kronors I’ve decided to change the currency to British pounds (that way I can get almost 11 times as much for my money ha ha, which is a bit shite as it used to be almost 14 times when I was studying and got Swedish student loan, typical!). I actually play the lottery twice a week (on standing order so I never miss it), and I still believe that we will win the big bucks one day : )

My wish list if I won 10 million pounds-
* I would buy a lovely Victorian house, nothing too big and fancy, maybe 3-4 bedrooms, a nice double reception room and a big kitchen in the back facing the big secluded garden.Lots of room for children to play in, in a nice little village with a post office and a country pub.
I actually found my dream home while searching for pictures – isn’t it just perfect – relaxed, white and airy!
(click on the picture to see more photos of the house)

* A funky penthouse apartment in London would also be on my wish list, central with nice views and housekeeping (butler) services so we don’t have to clean or fill the fridge before we arrive (this is so much dreaming I have no clue if it actually exist, but I wouldn’t be surprised, everything is possible in London for the right money). A nice bathroom (en-suite and child free) with big floor to ceiling windows and a massive bath is crucial as I love to bath, even more so with a view. The feeling of being in the middle of the city but totally in your own bubble where no one can disturb you, maybe even some nice jazz music in the background, heaven!!

* I would buy an old Silver Porche, just like the one Dylan had in Beverly Hills 90210

* It would be wonderful to have a (summer) house in Sweden where I grew up for my family to be able to use as much as they want, somewhere remote, next to the sea in Skane where we could spend our summers and celebrate Christmas.

* Imagine being able to travel all over the world, see amazing places, experience different cultures and explore.

There are lots of other things I would like and do, but the time is getting late and as I have a teething baby at the mo so I must go to bed and try and get some hours sleep before the night shift start with an upset baby, poor thing.

Västmanländskan is the host for April with some great themes (sorry for the rough translation)-
3 april – gult (yellow)April är ju påskmånad och då är färgen gul aktuell. Vad betyder gult för dig? Gult är fult? (Yellow is associated with Easter, what does yellow mean to you?)

10 april – långsamt (slowly)Långfredagen. Förr i världen årets långsammaste dag. Vad är långsamt för dig? (Long Friday – Used to be the slowest (and boriest) day of the year, what is slow for you?)

17 april – vårtecken (Spring signs)Nu borde våren ha kommit i nästan hela landet. Vilket är ditt bästa/största/viktigaste/första vårtecken?
(The spring should be with us by now, whats your best/biggest/ most important/ first spring sign?)24 april – övergivet (abandoned)
Sista temat ut för april lämnar jag helt öppet för tolkningar.
(The last theme is open for own interpretations.)

Other Friday bloggers- Nilla, Simone, Desiree, Annika, Anne, Petra , Millan, Anki, Marianne , Victoria, Cecilia, Leopardia, Strandmamman, Jemaya, MiaD, Lena, Erica, Marie, Saltis, Lia, Marina, Jennie, Anna, Moster Mjölgumpa, Sparkling, Taina, Christel, Musikanta, Sara, Under ytan, Marskatten, Emma, Västmanländskan, Lena W, Victoria V, Norrsken och stjärnfall

Nursery, a tooth and my dress

After a week of lovely spring weather it's starting to get a bit cloudy and colder but we can't complain, March has been fantastic, from my birthday the 2nd to yesterday really, and I hope it will continue in April and over Easter weekend when my mum is coming, England is perfect this time of year : ) I went to see two nurseries this week, they were both nice (much better than the other one I saw a while back), and I think I will book a place for him at one of them that's on the way to J's work and town, J should have a look at it as well, but I think it will be good. The only problem is that we are not sure what will happen after the summer, we are toying with several different alternatives. The only thing we are sure about is that we need more space, a bedroom for Axel as we seem to wake each other up (and lying reading in the dark using your mobile as a torch is just not OK in the long run ha ha). And I would love to have space for a kitchen table so we can all sit down and eat together, is that too much to ask ; )

Axel is really growing and developing now with rapid speed, being quite happy in general which is very nice. Yesterday I felt something sharp in his mouth, but I can't see the tooth just yet, but it's definitely there and on it's way. The last two nights have been a bit hard for him I think, waking up a couple of times poor thing, but it's enough me just giving him the dummy and he is off again which is lucky as I don't want to start feeding him in the night again.

Oh, I think I forgot to write it before but I found my wedding dress (and bought it). J's mum was suppose to make one for me, but then I walked past Monsoon where I had seen a dress a while ago that I liked (flowery) and now it was on sale. I tried it on and it's lovely! Very pleased with my find, just hope no one will turn up with the same dress on the party (but I have decided that it doesn't matter even if as it's not a traditional wedding dress as such anyway ha ha). And I can have in on the family lunch in Sweden as well which is great! Now I just have to find a pair of nice shoes and a white cardigan and maybe a little bag to go with it, book a time at the hairdressers to get my hair styled in the morning of the day and a time at the Mac shop that my friend R tipped me off about. If you book a session with them it cost £25 but you are allowed to choose things for the whole amount and they will teach you exactly how to do the makeup so you can do it myself on the day (and be able to practise before and then of course use the makeup afterwards). I think it sounds great!! We also need to think about decorations for the party, will have a good browse around the web for inspiration later on.

Here are some photos from the weekend and yesterday!

Sunday heat on our patio.

Axel and J on Sunday

Axel is starting to like being on his tummy more and more

Doing the penguin move

Lovely Sunshine and Swedish school

What a lovely week, I'm starting to enjoy motherhood more and more for each day that goes by, maybe it's the sun but I'm feeling really balanced and happy. Looking forward to a nice spring and summer, sun, ice cream, our wedding and then all new things in the autumn, got a strong believe that everything will be just fine and work out (lets hope so at least!!). I met up with Ruth on Friday, went to Wagamama where we had lunch with our two for one voucher, had a good chat and then we went into town to buy some sun blinds for the car and bought some new sunglasses (sun, sun, sun ha ha). Had some tea in Mark and Spencer's (never been there before I had Axel, but they got a great cafe and good changing facilities : ) And then we walked home, I met Ruth at Worthing hospital pre-labour course day, we live really close to each other and our boys are born only a month apart, lovely!

Axel has started with Swedish Välling in the evenings at 7 before he goes to bed, and it's doing wonders, he has now slept from 7 in the evening to 6ish in the morning two night in a row (knock on wood). He did however wake up at 5.30 today when it was my morning, so weird being up that early, nothing on telly, not even the early news!! only a little smiley baba : ) But at least it's a bit lighter in the mornings so it doesn't feel like you wake up in the middle of the night ("you know that going to the airport in the middle of the night feeling"). But I must admit, J does almost all morning shifts bless him, soooo sweet, before he goes to work around 8 he gives me a tired Axel to snuggle up with (on Friday we managed to sleep to 9.30.. not bad!!) And I love smelling his lovely hair and skin in the morning, all warm and cosy.

After a nice morning me and Ax went to the Swedish school in Portslade, was really nice meeting other Swedish mums and dads, have a look around, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea. Definitely gonna go next Saturday, was so nice speaking Swedish to other adults and not just Axel. And there is a Swedish Teacher for partners so I'm gonna drag along J next week : )

After driving home with a screaming Axel who was so tired and lost his dummy (and I couldn't find it and didn't wanted to turn around in my seat as I was driving), it was lovely to find the flat cleaned and hoovered, and a sunny patio. We have just chilled today, I made Swedish waffles with strawberry jam and cream, and now I'm enjoying a nice glass of wine and some cheese puffs. All in all a nice day, hoping for sunshine tomorrow so we can go out, I'm gonna meet Kirsty I think, she's just been away travelling so excited hearing about her trip!

Wedding rings!

The sun's been shining all week here in Brighton and the Brits strips off like it's July ha ha.. Me and J have this competition every year where we have to spot the first person wearing flip flops. I won that competition today (although we have both seen people with flippisar earlier - the competition states that we must be together when spotting one). After a nice stroll into town today we met J outside the jewelers where we went on the weekend and decided on our rings, I know it's a bit early but it's nice to get everything sorted well in time! And I think we learned something with the invitation cards- never make anything yourself!!! ha ha : ) We are still producing stupid cards and I'm getting nervous that some people might get pissed off as they haven't received their cards yet even tho others have. But there's no bias or prioritisation, instead we are just ticking people off the list while making the cards. But I hope we will have sent them all out by the end of the week, then I can show the cards here : )

As I have a solitaire ring (one diamond) as my engagement ring I wanted a plain d shaped ring as my wedding ring. Unfortunately it's still quite expensive as I got a platinum ring, but my estate agent sale face came on and I got our two rings down in price nicely, so that feels good!!! J's ring is in Palladium (looks like platinum and wont go yellow after a while) gonna be interesting to see how long it will last as it's quite a new metal, the jewelers don't know. But if it get really ugly after a while, then he can hopefully upgrade his ring (if we both work). But for now it's good, and I think it's better than white gold, but of course it's a matter of taste : )

Gonna go and look at 2 nurseries next week, want to find one as I want to start working in September. Hope it's better than the last one I saw which was awful! But I got one of them recommended so I'm quite hopeful. The only tricky bit is that we will move soon, was hoping in May, but think we might wait until I got a job so we can see how much money we have to spend on rent, I must admit I'm a bit bored with Brighton, the arty Brightonians, the low wages and the expensive rents and houses. I got ants in my pants and want to move somewhere else exciting, need to work on J tho, he seem to like it here...oh well..

Fredags tema - dromdag (dream day)

My dream day - My idea of a dream day has changed during the years, when I was younger it probably was a day in town with some friends and then going out in the evening- shopping, chatting and dancing!
My dream day today would be to wake up around 9-10, not being tired after I've slept the whole night looking forward spending a day with J and Axel, maybe even breakfast in bed! The weather is nice (think I got a bit of SAD, hate winters and cold, and don't get me started on snow!), I love "Indian summers" when the air is still warm but it's the end of September when you are wise enough to appreciate every day like it was the last before the autumn. We take our bikes and ride down to the (strangely enough almost empty sand beach!!), we have lovely food with us to eat and snack on. The water is clear and warm, and there is a bit of a breeze so you don't get too hot while building sand castles on the beach and playing beach tennis.

In the late afternoon we bike and buy some ice cream, lots of different flavours with cream on top in a newly baked waffle, still warm and tasty. Then we bike home and shower all the salt and sand off, but the skin still smells of beach and sun, I love that smell.

We open a bottle of wine, Axel goes to bed without and fuss after a busy day (actually, he never make a fuss in the evenings so that is not a dream, but a reality). A couple of friends come over and we put some nice meat and veg on the bbq, with some nice special potato packages and a lovely salad. Instead of dessert we have a cheese platter and unpack the board games, maybe a new nice edition of TP, plenty of candles and some good background music.

Ohh, I can't wait until the summer is here, we are going to rent a house on Ven for 2 weeks (as our honeymoon) in Aug, and I will try to appreciate each day, even if it's only Aug : ) like it's the last sunny day of the summer, magical!


Ven 2004

Vill ni se fler fredagstemare så får ni klicka er vidare här nedanför! (more Friday bloggers below)

Nilla, Simone, Desiree, Annika, Anne,Petra , Millan, Anki, Marianne , Victoria, Cecilia,
Leopardia, Strandmamman, Jemaya, MiaD, Lena, Erica, Marie, Saltis, Lia, Marina, Jennie, Anna, Moster Mjölgumpa, Sparkling, Taina, Christel, Musikanta, SaraUnder ytan, Marskatten, Emma, Västmanländskan, Lena W

Axel 6 months today!!

Axel is 6 months today, so surreal, it was just yesterday he was born and tiny, now he is almost 70 cm and 8 1/2 kg! I got some inspiration from another blogger to write down some facts about Ax, mostly for me to look back upon. So here we go..

At 6 months Axel can almost sit up unaided - the "play ring" has helped sooo much. He can sit in it for "longer" periods playing with his toys which he is starting to like more and more now as he can pick them up and hold them much better sitting up.

Axel loves to sit in his high chair watching the fishes in the aquarium and he loves books more than anything else, "read them", chew them and shakes of excitement when we look in magazines.

He's tried quite a lot of different food, parsnip, carrot, broccoli, but his favourite is butternut squash. He also like bananas and apples.

He "talk" a lot, trying out different noises and facial expressions, a tries to charm you into smiling, and smiles a lot himself. He rarely cries, only is he hit him self accidentally with his toys trying to maneuvering them towards his mouth, or if he is over tired.

Axel sleeps through most nights now which is nice, although early mornings in this household with Ax waking up at 6 the latest. But he is so good in the evenings, falls asleep at 7 without "our help", he always sleeps on his side with a muslin as a comfy blanket. He sleeps a couple of times during the day, mostly in the mornings before lunch.

He loves it when we sing and laugh out loud when we I do movements with his arms to go with the song. I think I'm gonna buy a small cd player so we can easily listen to music in the living room without having to turn on the PC.

And he loves the camera, smiles and wants to touch it all the time, lucky for me as I can not stop taking photos of him!!!

No teeth yet, but he is chewing away on everything and you can feel the teeth just underneath the skin so soon maybe.

We went swimming for the second time today and Axel dipped his head, got a bit surprised but I think he liked it. I, on the other hand thought it was much nicer when J came along so I think we will be starting to go to the pool on the weekend so we can go all 3 of us.

I'm enjoying motherhood more and more for each day, maybe because I'm getting more confident, but also cos Ax is getting more and more fun and not so much baby anymore which I like weirdly enough.

Fredags tema - Blogg plats (blog space)

Erica is the host for the Friday - Show and Tell in March. The first theme is "where do you blog?"

I would like to say that I blog while sitting on the beach or at least that I blog all over the place, however, this is not the case. I always blog from our living room sofa. There are many reasons why, the first one is that we live in a one bedroom flat so not that many other places to sit, the second more annoying reason is that our laptop's battery is not working properly so we always have to sit by a socket, and as we live so small we don't really have many spare sockets. So not exciting at all!


Had a lovely day with Jo and Iz today and look forward to the weekend, we are eating Fajitas tonight with some nice wine, perfect Friday night!

Axel today in his sitting ring, brilliant invention and an Ebay catch!

Vill ni se fler fredagstemare så får ni klicka er vidare här nedanför! (more Friday bloggers below)

Nilla, Simone, Desiree, Annika, Anne,Petra , Millan, Anki, Marianne , Victoria, Cecilia,
Leopardia, Strandmamman, Jemaya, MiaD, Lena, Erica, Marie, Saltis, Lia, Marina, Jennie, Anna, Moster Mjölgumpa, Sparkling, Taina, Christel, Musikanta, SaraUnder ytan, Marskatten, Emma, Västmanländskan, Lena W

Walks by the sea and Baby swim

Started the day with a walk to the sea with B and Bo, it's so nice living close to the water, must walk down more often now in the spring before it gets bonkers down there packed with turists and Londoners. Had a sandwich watching the world go by talking to B, such a luxury being off with Axel on days like these and he is so cute at the moment. It was a really exciting afternoon, we went to the baby swim for the first time today, J came as well which was great, so nice to be able to share Axel's firsts together all three of us. You are not allowed to take photos at the pool but I managed to take one before the lady told me off : ) Axel loved it and I've book us in for next week again, he didn't mind getting water in his face and was smiling most of the time : ) It was really warm by the pool as it's specially for babies hence the fogginess.

What a fantastic day : )

Had a lovely day with lunch at the Marina and cake with friends!

My Birthday!

The time has come, another year has gone by - and what a year!!! I got engaged (one year tomorrow), had Axel, met a lovely bunch of girls, and, well grew older : ) I'm on my last year of the twenties and this year I'm really gonna try to remember to enjoy writing a "2" in front of my age ha ha. J took today off so I got song, presents and breakfast in bed from him and Axel, for the first time since I don't know did I not lie awake waiting for them to come in, I was sound asleep, and no it wasn't 6 in the morning J took that shift, and then woke me up at 8 (so a proper sleep-in for me). The best "present" must be the handmade card they did this morning with Axel's hand, so nice and I love it when thoughts have been put in a present, might even frame it : ) I got some cards in the post last week from Sweden that I saved for today, nice nice.


Lovely cards and 'Sweets from my sweets, sugar for my darling....

The sun is shining and it's real spring weather in the air, I'm gonna jump in the shower and then we are heading out for some fun, gonna buy some cake on the way home to have for the girls and babies this arvo, this day is going to be great - I'm loving it!

Friday Show (and not so much telling) on a Sunday

After a week of tummy bugs and me washing everything thinking it will make me feel better - my new super practical drying rack is simply indispensable to me!

Catch up

I started to feel a bit fluie last Sunday and got some tummy craps in the afternoon which turned to more sinister gastric "whateveritscalledIcanneverremember", I even had some fever so I think it was more towards the Winter Vomiting bug (my tummy thought it was so much fun last time so requested an encore) - can't believe that I've had it twice in the space of 2 months when I didn't have it for 10 years before!! Anyway, lets not dwell in that, I was starting to feel a bit better come Tuesday when I was so hungry I decided to eat a Big Mac, yes - how STUPID of me to even think that I could eat at all, so after another two days of tummy ache minus the puking thank God I'm almost back to normal. The whole week reminded me of how I felt the first 3 months when I was pregnant with Axel, it was dreadful, I was constantly feeling queasy, nauseous and tired. The best contraception really, one week of that is enough for me for a loooong while, even more painful with a baby that could not give a monkeys that you are feeling shite : )

After a week of illness the flat really needed a good clean so me and J scrubbed, washed, hoovered and organised away yesterday, so nice to be in a more tidy clean flat, I even finished the half complete cabling job that's been driving me bonkers for ages so now we live in a - cable all over the floor - free living room: ) We then went to see J's uncle and his partner for a walk on the pier and some nice Thai food, unfortunately Axel is not feeling so good at tho moment, got a nice whisky voice and think he even had some fever last night poor thing so he got a bit upset after a while in the restaurant so me and J took turns to push the buggy outside (and we left to go home just after 8 so no late night ha ha , but it was the first time we were in restaurant in the evening with Axel so I think it was ok anyway.

Today we are planning to continue with the invitation cards and then have some tea and cake with J's family before they head back to Primrose Hill. It's my birthday tomorrow and J's taken a holiday day, he's been working so much he can really do with a break, just gonna spend time as a family and do fun things, hope the weather is good!

Here are some pictures from this week -

Axel in his green top with Wilma the worm and Axel the next day with his bunny