Baby swimming

This morning I woke up feeling sick and unfortunately I had to pay the bathroom quite a few visits...:( Fredrik took care of Emilia and I spent the morning in bed (as well as in the bathroom). Didn't get the sleep I was hoping for so I'm very tired now. I'm gonna jump into bed after Mästarnas mästare and will hopefully get a few hours sleep before the little one wakes up for food.

F has gone to the cinema, my princess is fast asleep since 18:30 and I'm chilling out on the couch with a cup of tea. I'm hoping the new week will be better than how this week ended..

Yesterday we brought Emilia to her first baby swimming lesson and I was a bit nervous about what she would think about it but she seemed to love it. She was floating very well and seemed very relaxed with her dad in the water. Afterwards she was really hungry and slept for two hours! ;)

Today is St Patrick's Day and I'm hoping all of my Irish friends are having a great time. Happy St Patrick's Day!

Great weekend

I just love the weekends when my darling can spend time together with me and Emilia. Yesterday we were gonna put up the wallpaper in Emilia's room but it was much more difficult than we thought so we gave up. We're gonna get help during the week and I can't wait to see the result. E's granny was here with us yesterday and E was in such a good mood. She got to try carrot for the first time and she thought it was yummie :) Today we had some friends over for coffee and they gave us loads of baby stuff that they don't use anymore, we're so grateful! E had a bath before they came over and we put on a new dress that her granny had made for her. Now E is fast asleep in her bed and I'm relaxing in front of the telly while F has called over to a friend. We haven't done that much this weekend but it has still been a great one since Emilia is finally well and so happy again :)

Spring - I welcome you!

This week the weather has been fabulous here in Stockholm, the sun has been out every day and the snow is finally starting to melt. I have been out for walks every day and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air, the warmth, the blue sky and the singing birds. Spring is in the air and everything feels a lot easier. Can't wait until the snow is completely gone and I can put on my sneakers instead of the winter boots. Emilia is also on the mend - finally - and she is a lot happier than before (= a happier mum)!

When I went into Kicks the other day when I was in Täby centrum, I bought a new face wash that I have been curious about for a while. The Bliss products have caught my eye and I have read about them in magazines. I bought the Fabulous foaming face wash and it didn't disappoint me one bit. It smells lovely and exfoliates as well as cleanses your face. This is part of the description of this product:

"A two-in-one oil-free exfoliating wash for all skin types, this fresh, fruity cleanser contains rose hip extract, milk thistle, passion flower and chamomile in a non-stripping formula that rebalances even the most schizophrenic of skins."

I highly recommend it to anyone, it's a great product!

Lazy Sunday

Today I haven't done much. Emilia woke up at 5:20 (!!) this morning and didn't want to go back to sleep so F got up with her and I stayed in bed like I normally do at the weekends since I always get up to feed her twice per night and need to catch up on my sleep at some stage. 5:20 is way too early though so I felt sorry for F actually. Emilia didn't sleep much at all after that so when I went downstairs to see them, she was really tired and cranky. F looked exhausted so I took Emilia and ordered him to go upstairs to sleep, while E and I went out for a walk in the sunny weather. We were out for about an hour and a half and it was so refreshing. E slept for about two hours then and she really needed it.

Later this afternoon I went to the grocery store to do some food shopping, I have now planned dinners for every night this week because I'm sick of having to think of what to have for dinner every single day and I don't like having to go out food shopping with E.

This afternoon myself and F have played with E who didn't want to sleep at all since 14:30. When I fed her at around 18:00 the "lights went out" completely and she is now fast asleep in her bed. She's very good sleeping in her own room, we just have to make it a little bit more cosy. I'm waiting for some furniture that we have ordered to arrive and we also have to find some time to put up the wallpaper that we got for her. It's a lovely Nina Campbell wallpaper with butterflies on a green background called farfalla.

Now I'm relaxing on the couch while F has gone to play some tennis with a friend. I'm gonna go to the bathroom in a second to have a long warm shower and I'm gonna put on a face mask and pamper myself a little bit. Tomorrow is a new week and we have a doctor's appointment regarding E's skin, I'm meeting up with my friend Monika on Wednesday and we haven't seen each other for years so I'm really looking forward to that and I'm also meeting up with two other mams (they're coming to our house) on Thursday.

E has been sick for about two weeks now. It started with her having a fever and a bad stomach two weeks ago. Last Sunday she got a cold and she's been sneezing and coughing all week. This weekend she has been coughing up a lot of mucus and I'm wondering if she has caught the rs virus. I don't know but I'm a bit suspicious so we're gonna see if the doctor can take a test tomorrow. She has been alert and eating well though, so it hasn't been too bad but I really want her to be well now my poor little girl. If it isn't the rs virus then it's a really nasty cold and I want her to get rid of it now!

Two year anniversary

Last Sunday F and I celebrated being together for two years. We first met at Fashion Cafe in Sundbyberg a cold February night 2011 where we enjoyed each other's company while having a few drinks. I remember it like it was yesterday, at the same time it feels like such a long time ago. We know each other so well now and have done so many things together. 2012 was a big year for us since Emilia entered this world and we also bought and moved into our house. I'm so grateful for my little family and for having the best boyfriend in the whole world. He's so thoughtful and caring and makes me extremely happy.

To celebrate, F had asked his mam to mind Emilia while we were having dinner at Kalaset Corner in Abrahamsberg together. It's a very small restaurant but they do really really good food. I had risotto with lobster and tiger prawns for my main course and it was so delicious. I really enjoyed spending time with my darling as well, it was a lovely evening!

There's no stopping her now

This week my little girl has seriously learnt how to turn herself around from her back to her stomach. She does it over and over again as soon as I lay her down on her back. My first thought was; Good girl, I'm so proud of you! and Emilia was really happy about it as well. But now I realise that there's a drawback. A minute or so after she has turned around she gets really pissed off as she now wants to crawl but doesn't know how to do it. She starts crying and I'm trying to put her back into her start position. But then she gets pissed off about that and starts crying again. Before I used to be able to lay her down on a blanket on the floor and she could stay there playing for about an hour or so. Now she gives me about two minutes before she starts screaming!

Not well

Our little girl has not been well for the past few days but she's slowly getting back to her normal self. It started on Sunday with fever and Monday morning she had a fever of 39,2 degrees. She was crying all day Monday and I didn't know what to do to make her happy. Yesterday was not a great day either but today was better. She has no fever anymore but her stomach is still iffy, I hope it gets better.

The past three weeks I have avoided anything with milk as we thought Emilia might be allergic to milk protein. Well I never thought so myself but agreed to give it a try to see if her dry skin gets better. I haven't really noticed any difference to be honest, perhaps her skin is slightly better but I think that is because we have put on the Miniderm cream as well every morning and evening. The milk free formula that we have been giving her has not been popular and sometimes she refuses to take the bottle. It has slowly gotten worse and in the last few days there has been a battle almost every single time I'm giving her the bottle. Today F and I agreed that I would start introducing milk again to see if anything happens, even though we have an appointment with a childrens doctor in two weeks and I said I would stay off the milk until then. I had yoghurt this morning and milk in my coffee this afternoon and I haven't noticed anything different with her skin. Hopefully I can start giving her the standard formula milk again (which is much sweeter than the milk free one) and I'll have a happier baby and no more food battles ;)

F and I are still working on getting our house into shape and we're slowly getting there (well we have a million projects to do in the house but at least we're starting to get that cosy feeling about our house). Our new project is now to do Emilia's room and we started by putting in some furniture last weekend. Since Saturday, she's sleeping in her own room and she has been so good. We're gonna put up some shelves and paintings and also put up wallpaper on one wall before it's ready (green with butterflies that I picked for her :)). As soon as we're happy with the room I promise to take some pictures that I'll show you. I'm hoping it will be as good as I imagine it will be!

My baby after a bath

No blogging for a while but now I'm back

Wow, time flies and I realise now that I haven't been blogging for a while. It's difficult to find the time now that we have moved into our new house and with a baby that pretty much takes all of my time ;)

Emilia is today 12 weeks old, can't believe she'll be 3 months soon. She's becoming a big little girl. She loves her food and I keep having to give her formula milk as well as breast milk. The amount of formula milk I'm giving her is increasing every day, well not really but that's what it feels like. She's a lot happier now and can spend some time in the baby gym or in the baby sitter by herself while mammy is doing some house chores ;) She has discovered her hands and put them in her mouth all the time. She smiles and "talks" a lot. She's getting stronger and stronger and I'm putting her on her stomach several times a day for her to practice. Today when I did that she rolled over on her back. Well, she kind of fell over but still! :) She's such a cutie and I so enjoy being at home with her. I thought the first two months were quite tough to be honest but it's getting better each day and I love seeing her develop.

We're in our house since 15th of December and it feels great. We had a carpenter paint all the walls upstairs in the bedrooms and re-build a wall to make two bedrooms three. Then F put in new oak wooden floors in all the rooms and new doors so it's slowly coming together upstairs. I have now ordered some curtains and pillows to make it look more cosy - that "soft part" is my job! Today we bought a new kitchen table that we can put in the kitchen to fill that empty space together with four new chairs. We also bought a new bed headboard that we fell in love with this weekend when we went to Mio to have a look. My parents looked after Emilia while we took the car and drove to Mio to spend some time together without her for the first time since she entered this world :)

Today I've been out for a walk in the sun and now Emilia sleeps in her baby swing that we have in the sitting room. I'm getting some time to myself and thought it was time for a blog post. Hope you're all doing well!

Happier

Last week myself and F bought a new car. I will be the one driving it while being on maternity leave, it's going to be great. That way I'll be able get around easier and visit friends that live further away from me without having to take the bus. I still don't feel ready for public transportation, but perhaps in a couple of weeks!? :)

My new Toyota Yaris

Since we introduced formula milk to Emilia, she is much happier and last week she started to smile quite frequently. My heart melts when she smiles at me, it's lovely to be able to talk to her and to get a smile back. She can focus for longer periods now so we try to interact with her as much as possible. She's such a little cutie. This morning it was time for another check up and she has gained 430g since last week so she has been catching up on the weight a bit which feels great. The only problem with giving her the bottle is that she sometimes gets quite cranky when I'm breastfeeding her as the milk doesn't come with the same flow. In the next few days my mission is to try to breastfeed her as much as possible during the day so that the milk supply will increase, it feels like I don't have enough milk for our hungry little food monster ;) If the milk supply gets better then everything will get better, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.

My little cutie

Tomorrow we're getting the keys to our house, I'm so excited! We won't move in until in another couple of weeks since we're going to renovate upstairs first but it's getting closer :)

Lovely Friday

Today has been a great day, myself and Emilia went out for a walk and met up with Maria to walk around the lakes in Sundbyberg. The weather was lovely and Emilia fell asleep after around 10 minutes and slept for about an hour and a half. Afterwards Maria invited us for a cup of coffee and cookies that she had baked - they were yummy :)

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy, Emilia hasn't been too happy and has cried for many hours every day. We think she suffers/suffered from colic and tried everything but nothing helped. Then we were recommended to try acupuncture and this week we have been to an acupuncturist for four treatments. It's difficult to say this early but she seems a bit better already. Besides, when we went for a check up this week and weighed our little girl, we found out that she had not gained that much weight in the last week. That probably means that she has been hungry lately and the crying might also have been because of that. Poor girl! So on Wednesday night we started giving her a bit of formula milk on top of me breastfeeding her and she seems much happier and more content. I hope it will get better and that she becomes the happy girl that we want her to be.

We have no established routines yet and in a few weeks we're moving out to Täby so it's all a bit stressful. But after that I hope that everything gets better. I can't wait to move in to the house, it's all very exciting. We're planning on spending Christmas Eve in our house with both our families and I'm really looking forward to that.

Right now I'm getting a few minutes to myself (which is very rare these days), Emilia just fell asleep in a baby swing that we bought for her this week. Yay!

Below is a picture of her doing her morning exercise. She's a strong girl and manages to lift her head for longer periods already. That's my girl ;)

3,3 kg pure love

At 6:34 on Monday the 22nd of October F and I finally became parents to the most beautiful little girl we had ever seen. She weighed 3360g and measured 51cm. We decided to call our daughter Emilia Agnes Meya Tedmar.

Emilia is 10 days old today and we're bursting with love for our little girl. She fills our lives with so much joy and we're enjoying every second together with her.

She's turned our world upside down, but we're slowly getting into it and we're getting to know her more and more each day. She can scream, for sure, when she doesn't agree with something but for most of the time she's the happy little girl that we want her to be.

I love holding her, talking to her, singing to her, looking at her, smelling her and cuddling with her. I wanna be close to her all the time. This is the most precious time and we're making sure we thoroughly enjoy every second of every day. Being a parent is the best feeling in the world! ♥

New couch

Today F and I decided to go to Mio again to have a look at the couch that we liked when we saw it a couple of months ago. It's called Modern Living and you can pretty much build your couch the way you want it by selecting different blocks. This morning we had a look at the measurements of the house and tried to figure out which type of couch that would fit best in the sitting room. After a bit of discussion we knew what we wanted and since Mio currently give a 15% discount on this particular couch and deliver it before Christmas if you order it now, we thought it might be a good idea to go there and have a chat with the staff. It resulted in us ordering a couch that looks pretty much like the one on the picture below, but the fabric we chose is a darker grey. I think it will look really good in our sitting room and I'm really excited :)

After that we rang F's mam and asked her if she wanted us to pay her a visit, she said to come over so that's what we did. It has been a while since we saw her so it was nice with a bit of a catch up again. She has been away picking chanterelles recently and showed us her freezer, the top drawer is completely full (!!!) and she gave us a good bit to bring home with us. We didn't say no to that of course! ;)

Tjejmilen 2013

Yesterday I registered for Tjejmilen 2013 which is a 10 km run on September 7th. I think it will be the perfect challenge for me to get back into shape during next year. It's my first time doing the Tjejmilen run but I'm looking forward to it and I'm dying to start exercising again. I should probably follow a specific running programme to make sure I do it the right way and with the right pace.

No baby yet, 3 days til my due date now and no action whatsoever, not even any Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor contractions). We'll see what happens in the next few days. I was so sure the baby was gonna come before my due date but now I'm not so sure anymore ;)

Today is going to be a relaxing day, I might take the bus to Bromma Blocks to buy a few sheets for the pram that we need. Other than that I'm doing nothing, might make English muffins that I want to try out. Hope you're all having a good Thursday!

Orly smart gels system

The other day I decided to do my nails with the Orly smart gels nail system that I bought before the summer. It's a do it yourself at home nail kit and includes a UV lamp that you use to dry your gel nails. It takes a bit of time to do your nails using this kit, but if you do it right your nails last up to three weeks which I think is great. I'll probably be busy giving birth to my baby soon so I thought that I'd do my nails now before I'm rushing into hospital ;) The smart gel colour I used is called Kiss the bride.

Today I went out for lunch to Restaurant S here in Sundbyberg with my dad and F. I had a lovely pasta with bacon (eating as much carbohydrates now as possible ;)) and then enjoyed the dessert buffé and coffee afterwards. Dad and I kept company walking back and then this afternoon I've been taking it easy at home.

Now it's time for football. Sweden is not going to win - I know - but I'm gonna watch the match anyway and cheer them on as much as possible!

The pink bracelet

Today myself and F got up quite late (around 10:30). I found my darling on the couch this morning, he went out there when he couldn't stand my heavy snoring anymore. Poor babe! I didn't have a good night's sleep at all, I woke up at around 01:00 and couldn't go back to sleep until around 04:00 again. I hate those nights!!

We had a lovely breakfast anyway with coffee, orange juice and homemade bread before we got ready to go over to the house to meet with the painter we're going to hire to do the top floor. He's gonna re-build a wall so that we get 3 bedrooms instead of just 2 and then he's gonna cover the textured wallpapers in all rooms with a filler before he paints them all white. We've also asked him to paint all the ceilings and when he's done we're gonna put in a nice oak wooden floor everywhere. I'm really looking forward to having these rooms on the top floor renovated before we move in. Later on, we might put up wallpaper on some of the walls but we're happy to start off with the white paint.

After we had been to the house we went over to my parents' house in Täby Kyrkby where we had coffee together and talked about the baby who's about to enter this world any day now. Only 1 week to go now until my due date. I think she might be ready to come out some time during next week but a lot of people think I'm gonna go passed my due date. We'll see who is right :)

My lovely mother had bought me the pink bracelet from Missoni Lindex that she gave me today. She's so thoughtful. I love it and have wanted to get it but haven't come around to it yet. It fits me perfectly!

+ 18 kgs

It's not very nice to step on the scales these days as it now shows + 18 kgs! It's quite tough to carry around all that extra weight, but it won't be for that much longer now. I'm dying to have my old body back, even though I know it probably will take a while before I lose all the weight again. I think the most important thing is not to rush things, I mean it has taken nine months to add on all this weight so it will most likely take about the same time to lose it as well.

I've missed exercising so much during the pregnancy and I really look forward to being able to do that again. We'll see how much time I have for exercising when the baby is here, but at least I'll be able to go out for long walks to start with. Right now I'm struggling to walk a few hundred metres ;) I also have a gym membership that allows me to go to the Actic gym in Täby when we move out there. Normally I go to the one near my job. Can't wait for the first time I'll have a sweaty workout again, it has been way too long!

This week has flown by. I have done nothing really other than getting my hair done, meeting up with my brother, going for a walk, cooking some food to put in the freezer for when the baby has arrived, doing some shopping etc but still feel that I need a few more days to just rest. We have no big plans for the weekend though. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Maria and we're just going to walk around in Sundbyberg and have a coffee somewhere. Looking forward to chatting with her and just have some girlie time :)

Maternity leave

So, I'm on my third day of maternity leave and it's so nice to be able to just relax and do whatever you feel like doing. Mind you, I don't have as much energy as I used to so I mostly sit on the couch watching different TV series ;) I love the way I can enjoy breakfast while watching Nyhetsmorgon on TV4 without having to rush into work afterwards.

Tonight I'm meeting up with the girls to go for dinner, it has been a while since we last saw each other. We're going to a Libanese restaurant called Sahara and I'm really looking forward to catching up with my friends while enjoying some nice food.

Before I head into town I'm gonna try to finish packing my bag with stuff that I need for when we're going into the hospital. It's only 1,5 weeks left until my due date now (21st of October) and I realize that the baby could decide that she wants to come out any day, but I'd love a bit more time to prepare myself for the big day. Whatever happens, I'm longing for our little girl and I'm dying to meet her and hold her ♥.

Canvas prints

F and I really like these canvas prints from Gallerix, one of Jimi Hendrix and the other one of Marilyn. I'm dying to decorate the house when we move in, but I know it will take a long time before it will look the way we want it to look (there are many things to be done). We are going to have to do it bit by bit, but in a way that is a good thing because you can really think through everything that you want to do.

Today I left my apartment keys to the new owner and finally I can leave it all behind me. The plan was to sell the apartment already last autumn but since we discovered the problem with the bathroom we had to deal with a court case and re-renovate the whole bathroom before I could sell it this August.

Tonight myself and F went down to the local Indian restaurant in Sundbyberg for dinner, since there was a second viewing of F's apartment. There were 13 people/couples there yesterday for the main viewing and 3 more tonight. I really hope that the bidding starts tomorrow and that F can make a bit of a profit. Fingers crossed!

Dinner with friends

Last night Camilla, Robin and Eira came to our apartment in Sundbyberg for dinner. We have tried to meet up a couple of times and finally they could make it. They had a baby girl 6 weeks ago and I was so looking forward to meeting her and catching up with her parents :) She was so nice and sleeping a lot except for when it was time for some food ;) F and I got to hold her, I can't believe we're gonna have one of our own soon.. only 3 weeks left now. Thanks Camilla, Robin and Eira for coming by, we had a lovely evening! And best of luck today Robin :)

I've just had some breakfast and soon enough we're gonna get ready to go to a birthday party. Sam turned 2 years old the other day and he wants us to come and celebrate him today. We also get to meet his little brother Teo who is now 4 weeks old :) Later on we're calling over to Maria and Marcus for dinner, really looking forward to that as well! Hope you'll all have a nice weekend :)

Missoni Lindex

Yesterday at midnight the Missoni collection for Lindex was released. I had seen a few nice things but didn't feel that I HAD TO buy anything. Went to bed the normal time last night and decided to check the website this morning to see if there was anything left. Almost everything was sold out, but I found a dress that I bought for the little one ;)

Tonight myself and F went to the hospital in Danderyd for an information session that BB Stockholm had organized for us. We have chosen BB Stockholm as our first choice where I want to give birth and I must say that the session was really good and the midwife that held the session gave a really nice impression. Can't believe it's only three and a half weeks now until I'm due...

Hampton Williams (The Exorcist) - SYTYCD Season 9 (Dallas Auditions)

This guy from the last season of So you think you can dance is so bloody good at what he does. A true artist!

Bed throw

Last weekend myself and F bought a new bed throw, I've wanted one for quite a while and I like the marine style a lot. Finally I found a nice throw when I was browsing the homepage of Mio and F liked it too, so we bought it as well as a pillow to go with it. We needed to get a throw for the bed since the photographer came to take photos of the apartment that are now posted on Hemnet by the way. I'm so hoping that F will get what he wants for his apartment and/or a little bit more. Fingers crossed and it will go well next weekend when the possible buyers are coming to view it.

We need to get a few more pillows to throw on the bed, they have nice ones in Mio but they have not reached the stores yet so we'll have to wait for another while. There are loads of things we want to buy for the house, but we'll just have to get it bit by bit. Can't wait to decorate the house when we have moved in but I know it will take time, especially since we'll have a baby to take care of as well ;)

Hamilton 2

Tonight F and I are going to the cinema to see Hamilton 2 - Men inte om det gäller din dotter. We haven't been to the cinema for a long time and though it'd be a good idea to go before we have a little baby to take care of ;)

Today we've been travelling around to different shops looking at things to buy for our house. There are so many nice things out there, but we'll have to wait and see what we need and what to buy in which order. We're gonna buy a new sofa anyway and we have found one that we really like in Mio. It has to be big so that a lot of people can sit in it together. Hopefully we'll have a lot of family and friends visiting us in our new house :)

We also picked up a new mattress for our bed that we had ordered from Kungssängen. We have two single mattresses now but wanted a bigger one in size 180 * 200 cm. I hope it'll be nice to sleep on but I think so ;)

Our new home

As you know, F and I bought a house a week and a half ago and we're very excited about it. We thought it would take quite a long time to find something we'd both like, but after two weekends of house viewings we found a house where we both felt that this is a future home. We actually took part in the bidding for another house in the same street first, but we never got it. We loved the area in Skarpäng, Täby so much and realized that there was another similar house that had been up for sale for quite some time. The seller hadn't got it sold the first time around so we thought perhaps we could get a good deal. F rang the estate agent and organized a pre-viewing of the house. It was what we thought it'd be like and we even liked the layout better than the layout in the other house. After a bit of consideration we put a bid on it. The seller didn't accept that bid but we only had to give a tiny bit more in order to seal the deal. Happy days!

The bathrooms are in good condition but we're probably gonna fix most surfaces like paint the walls, paint the ceilings, put up wallpaper and put in new floors. We're also gonna build a new kitchen in time but I guess it won't be until the summer. There are three floors and we're gonna try to fix all three bedrooms upstairs before we move in. We get the keys on the 30th of November and I can't wait. It will be a great home for our little family :)

On Thursday we've organized for a house inspection, the seller has already had that done but we want to do our own as well to be on the safe side. Fingers crossed it'll go well. Below you can see some "before pictures" of the house.