Another Virgo

27 08 2013

I don’t really believe in star signs, but I am surrounded by Virgos. Both O and V were born in September as well as my father-in-law, and even if the new baby decides to arrive in August, it will be another Virgo in the family. I read on a blog that Virgos are “försynta” = considerate* / discreet and are interested in storage. Hm, O and V are definitely considerate but not at all discreet, and it is true that O is obsessed by storage – in our already out-grown apartment that lacks exactly that!

We had my brother, fiancee and 5-month old son M visiting this past weekend and V really showed his considerate side towards the baby (“bébé” as he called him). He wanted to be close-by all the time, help M when the dummy fell out of his mouth, cuddle and the sweetest – he tried to get kisses from the baby: he would put his face close to M’s face, the way he does when we kiss him! Sometimes he would get a lick in the face from baby M 🙂 I hope that he will be as considerate when our baby has arrived!

Our new neighbours, my fellow blogger Anna and her family, have arrived! They are renting our friends’ apartment while they are back in Sweden having their second child. It is the same apartment that we lived in for 9 months last year before deciding to buy a place in the same building! Anna and her husband have two kids, their daugther I is 9 months older than V and H was born in February this year. We are hoping that V and I will become friends, their first meeting was on Sunday at the playground and well, that first contact was a bit tentative – mostly fighting over using the buggy board on H’s pram!

*) I wouldn’t have translated “försynt” as “considerate” but that’s from a Swedish-English dictionary!





23 books in 13 weeks

21 08 2013

It’s not the 30 books I read in 12 weeks over the summer of 2011 when I was on sick leave while pregnant with V, but this time around I have had other distractions thanks (?) to my smart phone (Instagram, FB etc). I could have read more books but I was also lacking motivation, maybe due to being more tired / stressed with not sleeping so well and trying to entertain V (even though our babysitter / nanny is great!).

Here are the 23 books I read during the course of the last 13 weeks (grades from 1 to 5):

1. Jonathan Tropper – How to talk to a widower (4)
2. Elisabeth Nemert – Ljusets dotter (3)
3. Ann Rosman – Fyrmästarens dotter (3)
4. Alan Hollinghurst – The Stranger’s child (4)
5. Lisa Jewell – Thirtynothing (3)
6. Abraham Vergese – Cutting for stone (4)
7. Måns Wadensjö – Förlossningen (3)
8. Laurie Viera Rigler – Confessions of a Jane Austen addict (2)
9. Edmund de Waal – The hare with amber eyes (4,5)
10. Mons Kallentoft – Pesetas (3)
11. Jonas Gardell – Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar (5)
12. Anne Enright – The gathering (2,5)
13. Cecilia Ekhem – Väntrum (5)
14. Ann Rosman – Själakistan (3)
15. Elizabeth George – Believing the lie (4,5)
16. Elisabeth Schönbeck – Äldst, yngst eller mittemellan (4)
17. Margaret Foster – Keeping the world away (4)
18. Fredrik Backman – En man som heter Ove (4,5)
19. Jonathan Tropper – Everything changes (4)
20. Marie Hermanson – Himmelsdalen (4)
21. Ben Elton – Inconceivable (3)
22. Annika Lantz – 9,5 månad (4,5)
23. Mary Kay Andrews – Savannah blues (4)

UPDATED:
24. Niklas Orrenius – Sverige forever in my heart (5)
25. Bodil Malmsten – Kom och hälsa på mig om tusen år (4) (finished reading on 27th August)

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Not to forget all the times I have read V’s favourite books about “Pepe” (= Pelle by Jan Lööf)…

And now I hope that the baby arrives soon so I am chosing a light book 😉





Nesting?

19 08 2013

No baby yet! Since V was born at 36 weeks and I am now at 38 weeks (tomorrow), and I have been on medical leave since end of May, it feels like this baby is overdue… which of course is not the case! It could be another two, or even three weeks more. In Belgium they induce labour earlier than in Sweden, one week overdue vs at least two weeks, I think in most Swedish regions.

Last time around, when I was pregnant with V, I wrote a post about the lack of nesting and the day after he was born! So, I was thinking that maybe this baby would also be curious about the outside world if I wrote about nesting? But what have I / we done in terms of nesting?

– Already when my parents were here in July, my mother and I sorted out the baby clothes and re-arranged them size-wise.

– I also packed my and the baby’s bags in July and O has been driving around with them in the car ever since.

– My sister was here last week and we did some more sorting of the wardrobes, including V’s (outgrown clothes packed away)

– O defrosted and cleaned the fridge and freezer yesterday – his way of nesting?

– I have been trying to catch up on my diary writing before the birth. For V’s first 1,5 years I kept a regular diary but around the time of the nausea of this pregnancy kicking in, end of January, I started being sloppy. I try to at least write down what has happened in his development and life each month and I try to remember to take a photo of him every 10th of the month. I also have kept a parallel pregnancy diary for the new baby.

– And today I continued on the quilt project for the baby. I cut all the patchwork squares when my parents were here, and then my mother took them home to do the zig-zag stitching as my sewing machine broke down. My sister brought them back and today I arranged them in the pattern I wanted. I have borrowed a sewing machine from a friend but it’s a different brand from the one I am used to, so I will see if I will have the courage to use it! There is usually a lot of swearing and desperation around when I sew so if on top of that I have to use a different machine, hm… 😕

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Of course I realised that I was one yellow square short…

There are a few people who are worried about when the baby will arrive:

My blog friend Anna and her family who are moving to Brussels this week and who will be our neighbours! Her husband is arriving by car on Thursday and is supposed to get the keys to the apartment from us. They are crossing their fingers that I won’t be in labour at that exact time!

– My brother, his girlfriend and their baby son M who is 5 months old are arriving on Friday afternoon, so they are also hoping that we won’t be at the hospital right at that moment! I have written a long and detailed email with directions how to take the bus and metro from the airport to our home (and then they can pick up the keys from our new neighbours!).

– Not so worried, but more excited, is our American friend who has promised to babysit V if the baby decides to arrive in the evening / night! Her daughter is one of V’s friends and they would have their first “sleep-over party” if this happens!





Utmana ödet?

7 08 2013

Nu har jag:

– bytt lakan
– bokat färgtid hos frissan på onsdag morgon
– bokat en husvisning på lördag

Innebär det att:
1) vattnet kommer att gå i sängen – snart?
2) jag kommer att föda före lördag / onsdag?

I så fall måste jag bara komma ihåg att boka av de där bokningarna…

Problemet är bara att:
1) Vår barnvakt jobbar åt en annan familj på fredagar och alla våra kompisar jobbar ju så vi undviker helst en förlossning under dagtid fredag
2) vårt första barnvaktsalternativ för kvällar och nätter plus helger är bortrest den här helgen så gärna ingen action till helgen. Vi har en annan vän på stand-by men hon råkar även vara hundvakt den här helgen så hon har ganska fullt upp!

V föddes i vecka 36 + 1, dvs IDAG om samma skulle ske i den här graviditeten! Vi träffade doktorn i måndags och efter att O insisterat på någonslags estimering sa han att han trodde på en vecka till… Naturligtvis kan han inte lova något, graviditeter är after all INTE en exakt vetenskap!

Vi är i alla fall glada att det inte blev en julibaby! Och doktorn sa också, som vi redan förstått, att V var ett undantag – de allra flesta barn som föds i vecka 36 kan andas utan hjälp, så vi hoppas på det om det skulle bli förlossning den här veckan…

Min syster kommer på måndag så nästa vecka är det fritt fram att titta ut, hör du det, lillasyster*?

*) I måndags innan vi träffade min gyn hade vi ett “tillväxt-ultraljud” och jag fick ett sms efteråt från min mor “är det fortfarande en flicka?” – opps, glömde fråga! Samma dag fick jag ett meddelande från en bloggkompis: “tänkte bara skrämma dig lite och berätta att min kompis som trodde hon skulle få en flicka fick en kille idag! Fast de hade bara varit på ett UL så er tjej är nog ett säkrare kort!” Nu har ju visserligen tre andra läkare sagt att det är en flicka men man vet ju aldrig! Och huvudsaken ÄR ju att barnet är friskt men det hade varit lite snopet med en pojke eftersom vi är inställda på en flicka och framförallt – NAMN??? Vi har ju som sagt bara en vecka på oss att registrera namnet (rättare sagt födseln men namnet måste vara bestämt då) här i Belgien…








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