Utelek och Viggbyholms stationscafé

Idag bestämde Jossan och jag oss för att träffas med barnen vid Ensta krogs lekplats. Det var lite mulet och så kom det några stänk på morgonen men samtidigt var det riktigt varmt. Emilia gillade mest en liten ramp som fanns där hon gick upp och ner, upp och ner, upp och ner...:) Hon tappar balansen och trillar omkull många gånger när vi är ute men säger ändå inte ett pip om det utan reser sig upp i igen bara. Efter en timme märkte man dock att hon blev lite frustrerad och trött så då tog vi bilarna och åkte till Viggbyholms stationscafé som jag hört så mycket bra om. Där blev det lunch i form av en smörgås för mig och Jossan och annat gott för de små. Efter lunchen lade vi barnen i vagnarna, gick en liten sväng och vips så somnade dom. De betydde att Jossan och jag kunde gå tillbaka till caféet och ta en kaffe och en liten sötsak. Vi satte oss ute och njöt i det fina vädret medan våra små skatter sov. Det är en riktigt härlig stund på dagen då det är lugnt och skönt! ;)

När den här veckan är slut har jag bara tre veckor kvar av min mammaledighet. Den känns lite sorgligt att den här fina tiden tillsammans med min dotter är slut, men samtidigt så känns det ganska bra att börja jobba igen också. Fredrik kommer ta vid och är hemma med Emilia i november innan hon börjar på förskolan. Dock fortsätter han att vara hemma med henne två dagar i veckan i december och januari också, så att hon får en mjukstart på förskolan. Vi tror och hoppas att det kommer att bli jättebra!

Smålandsbesök

Förra veckan stack Emilia och jag ner med bilen för att hälsa på min fina vän Emmeli med familj som jag inte sett sen bröllopet vid nyår. Fredrik skulle iväg med jobbet till Riga den veckan så det passade ganska bra. Jag var lite orolig för hur bilresan skulle gå med lilltjejen men det gick hur bra som helst. Hon sov sitt förmiddagspass när jag startade bilen och så tog vi en lunch i Linköping. Efter det trodde jag att hon skulle hålla sig vaken ett tag men hon somnade ganska snabbt igen så sista biten gick också galant. Vi hann knappt landa förrän vi skulle vidare på 7-års kalas för Antonias kusin Allis. Där fick jag träffa resten av Emmelis familj igen och det var så mysigt.

Emmeli och jag startade vår vänskap när jag flyttade hem från Dublin 2005, hon jobbade på Adobe i Sverige och jag fortsatte ju att jobba för dem ett år efter att jag hade flyttat hem. Emmeli satt i receptionen och vi fann varandra i princip direkt, vänskapen har sen fortsatt och trots att hon numera bor i Småland (det har hon gjort nästan hela tiden) så har vi hållt kontakten och försökt träffas en eller ett par gånger per år i alla fall. Det är alltid lika kul att ses och jag är så glad att jag har en sån fin vän.

Tidigare har jag ju åkt ner själv och Emmeli och jag som båda gillar att pyssla med allt möjligt har kunnat göra det när Antonia har gått och lagt sig eller så har hon varit med oss. Den här gången var det lite annorlunda eftersom Emilia nu var med och är i den åldern då hon vill undersöka och klämma på allt! :) Inget pyssel denna gång men lika trevligt hade vi för det jag är så tacksam att jag äntligen fått träffa Emmeli och Fredriks (hennes man heter också Fredrik!) underbara dotter Estelle som föddes i juli. De är nu en stor familj eftersom Fredrik har två barn sen tidigare, Emmeli har Antonia och så har de nu Estelle tillsammans också.

Det var fullt upp att hålla reda på min lilla tös som sprang omkring men vi hann prata en hel del och kunde umgås i de tre dagar jag var där, det kommer jag leva länge på. Hemresan gick också bra i och med att jag stack iväg först efter middagen så Emilia sov hela vägen hem så fort hon hade fått sin välling. Det var jobbigt att köra hem i mörkret men hem kom jag och allt gick bra. Tusen tack för en härlig vistelse hos er i Småland Emmeli! Ni är alltid välkomna till oss om ni har vägarna förbi Stockholm ;)

Skriva på svenska

Jag tänkte övergå till att skriva mina blogginlägg på svenska från och med nu då jag använder mitt modersmål varje dag och tycker att det skulle vara roligt att skriva på svenska igen. Men jag har ju en del vänner i Irland som följer min blogg och för att de fortfarande ska kunna läsa den så har jag lagt till en översättningsfunktion på bloggen som kan hittas längst upp till höger. Jag hoppas verkligen att den fungerar som det ska, annars får ni som använder den säga till!

Idag är det söndag och vi har både Emilias farbror och morbror på besök. Fredrik har satt dem i jobb då vi ska sätta upp markiser men de får stanna på middag som belöning ;) Emilia sover just nu och jag tar det lite lugnt med en kopp kaffe i soffan.

Emilia har haft en bra dag idag och det verkar som om hon börjar komma ur fasen hon befunnit sig i. Det betyder att jag numera har en mycket gladare och mer självgående tjej än tidigare. Hon sover dessutom bättre på nätterna igen. De tre sista veckorna har varit väldigt kämpiga men som tur är vet man ju att det kommer att gå över.

Emilia är superglad varje gång hon får bada - hon fullkomligt älskar det!

Idag fick hon dock sin första bula. Hon reser sig ju upp mot allt numera och trots att man är vid hennes sida och försöker hjälpa henne och ta emot henne om hon skulle falla så hann jag i alla fall inte rädda henne när hon föll framåt mot trappan och slog i huvudet rejält. Hon grät en skvätt men det gick över ganska snabbt som tur var. Får se hur det ser ut när hon vaknar sötnosen min.

Hoppas alla har haft en riktigt bra helg, det har vi. Igår var vi på Stellas namngivningsfest i Lindholmen och vi hade ju så bra väder. Stella verkade trivas med uppmärksamheten och föräldrarna var nöjda med kalaset. Vi hade det jättemysigt hela dagen och de bjöd på både det ena och det andra. Vi önskar dig alla lycka i framtiden Stella, hoppas du växer upp och blir en glad, stark och självgående tjej!

Picnic in the sun (hmmm, well in the shadow actually)

Yesterday myself and Camilla decided to meet up in town to have a picnic with our girls at Djurgården. We bought some food at Hemköp in town and then took the tram to Djurgården and placed ourselves under a tree in the green grass near the water. Yesterday was such a lovely day, it was very warm and the girls were in good form.

Emilia is actually in a development stage right now and has been quite difficult in the last couple of weeks. She has mood swings, cries more, does not want to lose sight of me, sleeps less, wakes up several times at night and wants to get up at 4-5 o'clock in the morning. This results in a very tired mum and dad ;)

I hope she'll get past this stage very soon. Luckily she has been sleeping a bit better the last couple of nights, we have kept her awake until 8 o'clock in the evening and she has woken up only one time crying for her pacifier during the night. She has wanted to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning though, but that's a lot better than before. Hopefully she'll start sleeping for longer in the next few weeks, otherwise I don't know what to do. 5 o'clock is a bit early, don't you think!??

Anyway, she's normally in a better mood when we do things and she was happy almost all day yesterday. After our picnic we decided to walk to Rosendals Trädgård to have coffee and a chocolate cake that we brought with us. Both girls fell asleep when we walked up there so Camilla and I got to catch up properly for at least half an hour anyway.

Emilia and I had a lovely day, thanks Camilla and Eira for your company. I hope we get to do it soon again! :)

Summer time

Wow, time flies by and I realise it has been a long time since I even visited my own blog. My little girl is taking up most of my time these days. I love reading other people's blogs but I don't find the time to sit down and write my own blog posts. Anyway I'll give it a try now...

Today is Friday and I was supposed to meet up with Lisa and Ludvig in Täby centrum for lunch but since Em hasn't been feeling well, I decided to stay at home with her. She had a fever last night and found it very hard to sleep, I think her teeth are bugging her big time. She has got two teeth at this moment, it's either them or else she is getting another tooth. We'll see what happens.

A lot of things have happened with Emilia in the last couple of months. She's now crawling (not proper crawling, she has got her own style ;)). In the last week she started pulling herself up to standing. Well she has only done that a couple of times, most times she stands up on her knees. She now sits unsupported, she has a great sense of humour and she "talks" a lot. Mostly she says "ba ba ba" and "da". Her dad thinks that she says "pappa" (=daddy) but she's not there quite yet. I'm convinced her first word will be "mamma" ;)

She's happy almost all the time and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with her. Can't believe she's almost 8 months (next week) already. She's hanging out with her dear friends Ludvig and Jack a lot and in the last month two of my best friends have given birth to a beautiful baby girl and a beautiful baby boy so she's soon making new friends :). Congratulations again Lina and Maria, we're so happy for you!

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 ;)

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 ♥.

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 :)

Magic Mike

Last night myself, Micaela, Petra and Jessica from work had decided to go to the cinema to see Magic Mike. We went to Vigårda for a bite to eat first, then we had a cup of coffee at Espresso House before we got some sweets for the film. It was a lovely evening and I enjoyed watching the film as well, Channing Tatum is a bit of a favourite :) Didn't get home until late last night, don't think I went to bed until 1:00 am. Needless to say I'm tired today, better head to bed soon ;)

Kolmården with the kids

Today we have been at Kolmården zoo with Kim, Lisa and the kids. We were quite lucky with the weather and there were only a few rain drops during the day. It was such a lovely day and the kids had a lot of fun, especially Benjamin. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the safari as the queue was so long and would have taken an hour and twenty minutes - crazy! Elias is getting bigger and bigger and I really enjoy playing with him, he's so happy all the time ;) Missing them already but luckily we get to see them next week again when we go to Åland. I keep my fingers crossed the weather will be nice so that we can spend a few days over there.

F and Benjamin in the swing at Kulmården ;)

On our way back from Kolmården Maria gave me a ring and asked if we wanted to come over for coffee so we did :) We sat outside in the sun and she gave me an early birthday pressie since they're going to England tomorrow. Will be hard not to open it until Friday ;)

Sunny day

Today has been a lovely day and I've even been sunbathing for a couple of hours. Had a healthy lunch - I made a simple fruit salad that I had with vanilla kesella and some sunflower seeds. Now I'm on my way in to town to meet up with Johanna for a catch up :)

Coffee break in Vallentuna

Today we spent the afternoon with Kim, Lisa and the kids. The kids were in a great mood and we got to catch up with Kim and Lisa :) My brother was also there - I love days like these!

Sushi and girl talk

Saturday myself and Maria met up in the afternoon to go to the driving range to practice our golf swing. The weather wasn't great on Saturday morning but later on in the afternoon the sun came out and it was actually really warm. We met our instructor up there, he's always saying hi and cheering us on :)

After a while we felt we were done so we walked up to Brommaplan to buy an ice cream that we had outside in the sun. Then we went to get some sushi and I ordered californian rolls that were gorgeous. They had put some mayonaise on top of the rolls and it was yum!

We spent the evening in Maria's couch and talked about all and nothing, we don't get quality time with each other that often anymore so it was really nice to catch up properly. I had a lovely weekend but as always it was too short!!

Lovely day for midsummer

Friday was such an amazing day to celebrate midsummer! We all met up at Camilla's apartment and then went to Bromma Kyrka together where we knew there were going to be some traditional midsummer celebrations. The sun was shining and we found a lovely place in the grass for a picnic. Camilla and Ellinor were responsible for the food and had brought loads of goodies like bread, cheeses, ham, Swedish "skagenröra", herring, melon, strawberries, olives, biscuits etc and to top it off - the most gorgeous caramel cake!!

Needless to say I was stuffed when we walked out of there, just to go to our apartment where we were going to have a BBQ a couple of hours later. We enjoyed more yummy food in the evening and I had been responsible for baking a midsummer cake. Found a great recipe on the web and it turned out pretty well I must say. It was made of a brownie base with daim and then some strawberry mousse on top, topped with some more fresh strawberries ;)

We all had a lovely time together, thanks to everyone for making it happen!

Cake no 1 - caramel cake

Cake no 2-  my midsummer cake :)

Happy Midsummer!

Today is Midsummer's Eve and I woke up this morning greeted by beautiful weather and sunshine :) We're currently getting ready for a nice day with family and friends. The plan is to take part in some Midsummer celebrations at Bromma Kyrka while having a picnic with loads of nice food and a caramel pie for dessert! Later on we're gonna have a barbeque at our place, it looks like the weather is going to be lovely all day - at least here in Stockholm. I've been responsible for the dessert for tonight and started preparing a Midsummer cake already last night. I've never made it before but I think it will be yummie and it includes strawberries of course! What would Midsummer be like without strawberries, hey!?

I hope you'll all have a lovely day, Happy Midsummer everyone!

Bowling and golf

Last night my darling had arranged for a night out and I didn't know what he was up to. We went into town in the evening and ended up at Marions Gastro Diner where we had a game of bowling and then dinner afterwards. We haven't been out and about for a while so I really appreciated it. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed drinks and a very nice dinner. I wasn't that good at the bowling, but really enjoyed it anyway. It was a good workout, he he ;)

Today Maria and I had decided to go to Bromma Golf together to practise a bit and to give the theory test a go. I have been studying the golf rules in the past while in order to be prepared but I was still a bit nervous about it. I thought it was only gonna be multiple answer questions but there were actually ten free text questions and when I first saw them I was a bit shocked. But both myself and Maria did very well and our instructor who corrected the tests said that we almost got a 100% test result. Needless to say we're happy about passing the test! :)

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the golf restaurant before we left for Bromma Blocks. We hardly ever go shopping together anymore and were looking forward to that, but we didn't really find anything. Maria bought a top though and I bought a cardigan but I guess it's better to keep our money instead ;)

Now I'm at home while my baby is at the cinema with a friend. I've been watching the football match between Holland and Denmark and fair play to Denmark for winning!