Rise and shine?

Axel woke up at 5 yesterday, I was hoping it wouldn't happen again but of course it happened today as well, I really hope this is not a new pattern or something aarrrrgggg, it is awful to have to go up this early, you have that sort of feeling that you get when you are going to go travel and have to wake up on all strange hours to go to the airport. I'm was (still am ) so tired and tried to get him to sleep a bit longer (of course), first in his own bed (which seldom works at that time of the morning) and then in our bed - which he NEVER does so I don't understand why oh why I feel the desperation to try it every time this happens anyway?! I think we need a couple of blackout blinds so we can pretend it's night for a bit longer, our wooden blinds aren't just not up to scratch. But as we sold the car an IKEA visit is not the easiest now, darn, we should have thought about this before we started to rely on J's mum to go, oh well... I need to drink some tea now, my head is hurting.

Ohh I forgot...

Any idea how to get a little boy to start crawling forward and not just backwards?

Wedding colour scheme, any ideas??

We are having our first (of two) wedding party here in Brighton after the ceremony in the evening for all our friends. No food or speeches, just bubbly, mingling and (hopefully) some dancing. It's not long to go now so we need to start planning the decoration of the place, J happened to look at a play in the same room last week and came home telling me that the walls where blue which I must have totally blocked out as I thought they were a bit plainer. However, when we got there this weekend to have a second little peek and to take some photos we realised that the walls where in fact lilac (but on the photos we took they look blue so they must be magic walls ha ha. I was thinking of having a pink summery theme but I'm not so sure now, all I know is that I don't want a drastic look (you know a bit like James Bond-ish), instead I would like a very soft, romantic, summer cottage beach look with wild flowers and soft light. But that's not gonna happen here in Brighton with lilac walls : ), but thankfully we are actually having our second (family) party in Sweden in a summer house so I get a bit of that in the end. Anyway, back to the subject, anyone got ideas about any colours that goes nicely together with lilac? I was looking for some inspirational pictures online and found this photo, classic!

I wonder on which planet the designer lives cos this is just plain horrendous ha ha, then again maybe it is for older people getting married as I just noticed that the chairs are actually rocking chairs?!?!

I also found a site that teach you how to make a cupcake stand, perfect! Now I just have to find Polysthyrene cake dummies!

Long weekend

Had a nice long weekend with some sunshine : )


Axel on the swings for the first time, not sure if it was a hit or miss, gonna try and find a proper baby swing for him so he can actually swing and not just sit in it while J "moves" it a bit : )


Nice to eat grass and to try the slide (with a little help from dad).

Axel a bit sceptical of his mum ha ha.

Sunny morning?

I've been a bit slack lately with the blog, don't have much to write really, everyday is the same here, play, food and walks, maybe see a friend or two. The weather has not been the best, but I hope today will bring sunshine, it looks promising! It's a long weekend here in UK with Monday off which is nice. We just chilled out yesterday, I had some time for myself while Ax and J was out and about but managed to sleep most of it, damn. Haven't been sleeping so well lately, not sure why, just toss and turn a lot before finally sleeping and then waking up if Ax stirres. I went to the Job centre last week to see if I could get some job seeker allowance while I'm looking for work, what a depressing place, and flipping weirdos! They didn't wanted to help me with the pram up the stairs (health and safety apparently), and the lift they got was only for staff!?!?! Then I had to sit and wait for a long time even tho the specifically told me on the phone that it was crucial that I was there on time. After all this waiting I don't seem to be eligible as I strangely enough haven't paid enough National Insurance for 06-07 aaarrrrrggggg (typ A kassa). Oh well, I was a bit upset afterwards and think I might not go there again, it's such a negative place and don't think it's for me really, just gets you down, I have been positive that everything will be fine, I have never had a problem finding work before, so why now, would be a shame if they change my frame of mind with their negativity, and as we don't have a nursery place for Ax until Sept it would be hard for me to find alternative nursery care over the summer anyway, but we'll see. Enough depressing things, and here's for hoping that the recession will soon end!!!!

Axel clapping part two!

The mobile video function isn't the best, he usually don't move in slowmotion (although I must admit I wish he did sometimes : )

Axel clapping!

Sorry about the bad quality, we got a little clapper in our family!

Sweden here I come...

I managed to book my short weekend trip to Sweden last night, been meaning to do it for a long time, think I got mixed emotions! Me and Ax flew a week before J at Christmas and it was a bit too long for my taste, both being away from J and have Ax alone, I salute all the single parents out there, I get tired after just a couple of days! But hopefully I will feel different this time, Axel will be older and not so demanding (well at least he will sleep a bit better) than last time. I will only be in Sweden for 6 days (with almost 2 of them travel days) so not too long really. The only negative thing with that is that we wont have time to see any friends unfortunately, and then of course when we all go in Aug we will spend all our time on the island chilling out. Oh well, that's the way it is some years. I'm flying out the day before Midsummer and I'm super excited to celebrate a proper Swedish Midsummer for a change, it was about 10 years since last time I celebrated in Sweden. I have of course been to a couple of different constellations here in UK, but it just isn't the same.

Eventful Friday.

We placed the ad for the car on Thursday night in Auto Trader (the ripoff company of the century, they charge £40 to have an ad in for a couple of weeks, bonkers) however, on Friday morning this garage from Southampton called and said they wanted to buy the car, so J biked home from work, cleaned the car a bit before they arrived and then manage to sell the car to them, we got quite a good price and it was super easy, almost too easy maybe but as their was a couple of minor faults (crack in the back bumper, no instruction manual etc) we had a feeling it would be hard to sell to a private person. And of course the price we advertised the car for is a really tricky price, a bit too much for a private person to just pay without any guarantees so all in all, we are very happy with the sale, although I have walked around the whole day thinking that I would have liked to have driven somewhere today, typical.. the grass is greener and all that! On top of selling the car we also noticed that our timer on the hot water tank was broken in the morning, our landlord was on his way to holiday so we had to call another electrician who could come out, and while trying to arrange that I also went to Sing and sign with Axmax, and had lunch with R. I was sooo tired in the evening ha ha, can't imagine how it will feel when I go back to (a) work. So unfortunately I didn't write about the Friday theme, and to be honest, I haven't had any inspiration lately. Maybe next week, in the mean time I will just read the other Friday bloggers blogs : )

Super duper bra blogg!

Just saw that this blog is back online again (prob have been for a while but I have missed it!)

http://www.fyranyanseravrosa.blogspot.com/

It's in Swedish, which is a shame as it is super duper good!

Play and Auto Trader

And then it's Friday tomorrow again, this week has gone super quick, Axel is still snotty poor thing but sleeps well in the night so can't complain really. We went to our new friend F today for a play date, was really nice to see where they lived and for Axel to play with other toys, he is really getting fed up with the toys we have which I admit is mostly for smaller babies, so we might have to invest in some new toys for older babies on the weekend : )
J is putting in an ad on Auto trader to sell our car and being really irritated, don't think either of us want to sell the car, but it's too expensive and as we are only using it for leisure we simply can not justify keeping it, it's a bit upsetting but I think we will feel relieved when it's sold and we have paid it off (which will take a while as it's hard to sell cars at the mo so we will have to sell it for a bit less than it's worth arrrggg).. enought ranting from me, now I'm gonna forget about that and move on and just be happy that we had the car for as long as we did and it was great when J took his driving licence to practice and then to practice some more when he passed his test and we live so central we don't really need it!


- Axel checking our the baby walker we found outside a charity shop, we felt that we deserved some charity ourselves so we took it home (and washed it of course). He don't really want to hold it yet, but like prodding it with his little finger bless him, and I will return it to the charity shop when he can walk unaided : )
- Axel with Joda ears (with a little help from his dad!) and with lemons which was fun, and even more fun when J juggle them

I ♥ the apprentice

It's just getting better and better for each week!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/

6 year anniversary dinner

Forgot to write about our anniversary dinner on Sunday night at the new Jamie Oliver restaurant. We usually buy each other presents and cards etc on our anniversary but this year we thought to try something new, scrap the pressies and actually, we didn't give each other any cards either (how Swedish!!) instead we decided to spend the pot on a nice meal out just the two of us (J's mum came to baby sit which was nice). What a place, the service was absolutely superb, the food was yummy and the restaurant was really nice, all fresh and new but rustic with an "Italian twist". We splashed out with 3 courses, sides and a beer or two and was pleasantly surprised when we got the bill, very reasonable. We had a great night and I'm very happy that I got a blog to write things like these in for me to go back and have a look at later as we can't for our lives remember what we did last year!?! ha ha

The food, I had truffle pasta and J had homemade hamburger

Sick bay, Saturday and wedding to-dos

J's been ill for the last couple of days, got the flu bless him and Axel is a bit poorly as well, I think I had it last week but I thought it was hay fever, it's the same symptoms really, except I'm feeling a lot better now so probably not as the that yellow sticky things from the trees are still everywhere. As a result of snotty noses and constant sneezes we have just been chilling out the last couple of days, went to Sing and sign with Ax yesterday, it's a bit like signing up to a gym membership, you know what you signed up to but still every time you go you feel embarrassed that you haven't practice or done any work at home at all. Kinda hard to learn all the signs if you only practice for an hour each week, and still I forget to practice. I have plans to start exercising as well next week, but I just can't see it happening ha ha, my friend R suggested it as she wants to start as well so maybe if she force me (which she wont, she is such a darling and would never push anyone which is a real shame... for me ; )

We managed to walk to the park today as the sun was shining and our flat started to feel like a prison. The wind was a bit chilly so Axel had his hat on. He must have been the only one in the whole of UK today, but then again, that doesn't say much, you can see small children with no tights on under their skirts or even shorts in December!! Mental..

J's mum is coming tomorrow as me and J are celebrating 6 years together, where did the time go?? We are going out tomorrow night for some dinner and sweet talking : ) gonna try the new Jamie Oliver restaurant just opened here in Brighton, can't wait! Axel woke up at 5.17, well probably a bit before but this was the time when I looked and realised that he would not fall asleep again, it's just painful waking up that early so I better go to bed.

Here are some photos from today -

Just realised that Axel looks a bit like the child on the porridge package bless although the side comb is the other way ha ha.

Weddings to-dos (for myself really as I have been sitting thinking about it tonight)

* Find a florist

* Find a hairdresser

* Do a Mac makeup test

* Pick up the wedding rings and arrange for the name and date to be written in them

* Buy Sweets, snacks, bubbly etc

* Do a play list

* Go and have a look at the venue again (can they supply champagne glasses?)

* Buy decorations - balloons, helium canister, ribbons, weights, table linen, petals etc.

* Make a cupcake stand (or buy)

This is all I can think of right now.. flipping heck, I really must start to work through the list now!!! Thank God we are having a very relaxed and forgiving party ha ha.

I decided to skip the Friday theme as it was about buffet which I must admit I have never done myself, my suggestion is to buy it from somewhere, much easier!

Lovely Weekend and Show and Tell: Valborg och Första maj (a bit delayed)

It's a new month and Musikanta is deciding on the Friday theme, the first theme was Valborg/ forsta maj Friday just gone. Valborg is an old Swedish tradition where we have large bonfires against witchcraft and evil spirits (at least that what it said on Wiki). As English people don't celebrate Valborg and me not being really sure why we are celebrating it in Sweden, I have simply stopped acknowledge it. But I remember all the Valborgs when we stood by the harbour waiting for the most annoying and arrogant Åhus scouts trying to lit the bonfire on a barge out on the water (I went to the scouts for half a year and hated it and all the leaders, still have a phobia about camping which I blatantly fully blame them for ha ha). Before they finally managed to lit the rain soaked timber (sometimes they actually didn't even manage it, talk about anti climax) our toes where like ice taps and our ears felt like they where going to fall off. Unfortunately the fired didn't warmed us up either as it was a bit too far out for that, so double anti-climax! During my teenage years the occasion (like all occasions) was celebrated with home burnt alcohol and parties at someones summer cottage (still freezing), sometimes great, sometimes just crazily bad with boy problems and tears. Thank God I grown up and don't have to do that anymore!

1 May (equivalent to the English May Day which is today), the big day to demonstrate, which I must admit I have never done, get a bit scared of crowds and riot police , (there was a confrontation just 10min walk from where we live!!!) and no wonder when you read the news papers online tonight and look at the pictures. My friend A warned us this morning about promised trouble in Brighton today, not a nice place to be with a small child. We went to J's mum instead and had a good time, but we both were super tired and still recovering after the real celebration this weekend - out good friends Wedding on Saturday!

What a fantastic day which started with the civil ceremony at noon followed by a lovely dinner and speeches, slide shows and presentation of a "book" specially made for the happy couple. We didn't get home until 11 in the night (well evening), tired but happy. So excited that we are next (only 2 1/2 months to our wedding), B and T looked so happy the whole day, the weather was great and no major incidents, all in all a great wedding!

The happy couple before the ceremony (a bit nervous)

P & K in Pavilion Garden

Me and J

J and Axmax just before the ceremony

Other Friday bloggers -

Nilla,Simone,Desiree,Annika,Anne,Petra ,Millan,Anki,Marianne , Victoria, Cecilia,Leopardia,Strandmamman, Jemaya, MiaD, Lena, Erica, Marie, Saltis, Lia, MarinaJennie, Anna, Moster Mjölgumpa, Sparkling, Taina, Christel, Musikanta, Sara, Under ytan, Marskatten, Emma, Västmanländskan, Lena W, Victoria V, Norrsken och stjärnfall, I am Annika, Birgitta, Maisoui, ,Inga-Britt, Bollebygdsbo

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Just to clearify that it is too early to go up at 5.30 after being to a wedding the evening before arrrggggg