Breastfeeding

Thank you all for the lovely feedback after my last post! It’s nice to see that so many of you read it and the comments I got on my Insta story afterwards was amazing.

Baby M is seven months today. She’s got two little teeth at the bottom of her mouth, both of which arrived last week.

Toddler M got his first teeth when he was five months and I breastfed him until he was eleven months and I started work.

This little lady however has started to bite and it hurts like hell!!

Her day starts with a breastfeed and then it follows on with porridge, lunch, afternoon snack (fruit, or sometimes a breastfeed again), porridge once more and ends with a breastfeed. Yesterday morning, when I thought my nipples was going to be only a memory and I was actually looking for blood once she had let go, I realised that maybe I will have to rethink this breastfeeding thing.

I have had a vision of continuing even longer than with Mio this time, but I don’t know how to get around it and make her stop the biting.

I certainly do not feel ready to give up yet. I love that time we have together, the closeness and the way she looks at me with love while she eats.

According to the Italian, this is our last baby which means that this will in that case be the last time I do this and it makes me so, so sad to think that I might have to stop.

Any tips are appreciated on how to make it easier for us to continue. I try to say no when she does it but she just looks at me and laughs.

Birth Story

Better late than never, she is almost seven months, so we need to jump back to the 17th March.
I was due on the 26th April so I was not meant to go on maternity leave until the 31st March. This specific day we had a film crew at work and I arrived earlier than usual to help them to set up which meant that I ran up and down the stairs a lot. I joked with the crew and said that running up and down these stairs will probably kickstart the labour. Little did I know that this seems to have been exactly what happened.

(Photo stolen from Spring’s instagram account)

The filming went on throughout the morning and after that we went straight into a hectic lunch service. I noticed a few contractions on and off during the day but didn’t think much of it as I was only 34 weeks. I assumed that it was just the famous Braxton Hicks you hear about. If I would have been 40 odd weeks I would have probably paid more attention to them.
There were a couple of times when I even had to stop what I was doing, grab hold of something near me and breath for a bit. You would think that might be a clue that it was the real deal, but no…
As I was leaving work about 4pm I briefly mentioned to two people that I have had fake contractions during the day and was going to clock them now just for fun. We laughed about it and I said I’ll see you on Monday, have a great weekend.
So I downloaded an app and started to track my contractions as I climbed on my bike and cycled to Mio’s after school club to pick him up. When I arrived I realised that I was right to start tracking as it came up with 3 minutes apart, 30 seconds for each contraction, apart from when I was on the bike and didn’t count all of them.

I started to get a little bit nervous as it was too early but I still didn’t really realise that it might be real. We walked home together and as we got there about 5pm I went to the toilet and realised that something that looked a lot like the mucus plug left my body. This is when I started to worry a bit but I still couldn’t quite take in that it was happening. I called the maternity ward and they said that I should probably come up but I could hear that they didn’t think anything would happen.
I called The Italian and told him what was happening. I could hear in his voice that he worried but he tried to stay calm to keep me calm. He left work straight away and we said we would meet at the hospital.
Ok, so what do I do with Mio? We had planned for my dad to come to London before the due date, but that was five weeks away so he wasn’t there yet. I called a friend of mine who lived around the corner as her son was Mio’s best friend as well and it felt like the best option. No answer…. I tried again, and again at the same time as I threw a few things in a bag that I thought I might need in case I was at the hospital for a few hours or maybe even the whole night. I finally got through and we went in a taxi to the hospital and met her there and Mio went to her house for a sleepover.
I went upstairs to the 6th floor and the corridor was filled with women in the same situation waiting to be checked or admitted. I am not entirely sure what time we are on now but I would guess about 6.30pm. I was told to sit on one of the chairs and wait for someone to come and see me. The Italian arrived at the same time as a lady came over to me with a thermometer and a plastic cup. The thermometer went into my ear and I was told to go to the bathroom with the cup and come back with a urine sample. Said and done.
I was shown into a room at 7.30pm and they did a swab test to check the water and to get a clearer idea of what was happening. They realised that some of the water from the back had gone. That’s when I realised that it had been trickling out a little bit throughout the day yesterday… It’s hard to know what’s what when pregnant, I thought that maybe it was discharge (which you have quite a lot while pregnant) or maybe I actually peed myself, although I hadn’t done it yet I thought that maybe today is the day that it starts. But it turns out that it was actually the water that was on it’s way out.

I should also mention that I had an appointment with the midwife the day before and she didn’t notice anything unusual, the baby was growing fine and all my results were fine.
After their discovery I heard the sentence that all women in labour want to hear – “You will be admitted to this hospital now and you will stay here until the baby arrives” – HEAVEN!

 

As I got sent home with Mio this made me feel very safe and looked after. I was left in this room for a bit and wasn’t moved to another room until about 9pm. I shared this new room with another girl who didn’t seem to have any contractions at all, they were eating Mcdonalds and watching tv shows on their phones.
I, on the other hand, had contractions on and off and it felt so nice to have a bit of a break in-between them as I didn’t have any breaks at all during my previous labour. I do apologise about not knowing the term names for all the things that are happening to me from hereon…
We waited for about an hour and the contractions were stronger and stronger and closer together. Midwives came and went and they noticed that it was more intense but they were having problems finding a CTG-machine that could measure the baby’s heart rate. As soon as they finally hooked me up to one of them at 10pm the pressure on my belly really got things going and the breaks in-between the contractions were gone. As I had a c-section last time they had to put a thing in my hand that they could hook up to something in case I had to be rushed into surgery. Three different midwives tried three times each but it just didn’t work so they gave up.
I realised around this time that the baby was actually coming today and I started to ask if she was going to be ok as she was premature. They answered me vaguely but I luckily didn’t really register this and in my head I thought that it just had to be ok.
At 11pm a doctor came to see how many centimetres I was open and asked if my water had broken yet. I said that I didn’t think so, but clearly I didn’t know what it felt like so I wasn’t sure. She examined me and realised that I was 9cm open and at the same time as she told me that, water was gushing out. Now this was quite a strange situation as she had her whole (??) hand inside me and looked me deep into my eyes and said “That’s your water coming out now” And then her hand stayed inside me until it was done…
After that I was wheeled into a labour room and they asked me if I felt the urge to push. Although Mio was born with c-section it was an emergency one so I went all the way to being ready to push and at that time the urge came from under my boobs and it was impossible to stop.
This time I didn’t really feel anything at all but I assumed that they knew what they were talking about when they said that it was time to push at about 11.30pm. So I pushed and pushed and pushed. She went down and down and down but clearly the urge wasn’t strong enough so it was really difficult to get in the flow and get her to come all the way out. The doctor said that as she was so little they felt that she needs to come out soon so I was to push another couple of times and if she didn’t come out then she would assist me slightly.
I though to myself that I hope to God that she doesn’t mean forceps… I could see in the corner of my eye that she started to open a package and surely there it was, the massive tool that was meant to come inside me. I don’t know if you’ve even seen forceps but they’re basically as big as a spatula. Sadly after two more pushes the baby was still inside me so in they went. So in between my legs we have a head, two spatulas and as I’m sure you understand it was not the most comfortable situation I’ve been in.
One more push and she was out at 11.48pm on the 17th March. The most beautiful girl with lots of black hair.

They put her straight on my chest which I was vey very happy about as I missed that moment with Mio. Sadly they cut the cord straight away as I hadn’t had time to tell anyone that I would like for it to be attached for as long as possible.
They brought her over to the other side of the room and weighed her. She weighed 2.1kg which meant that we didn’t have to go to neonatal. Their cut off was 1.7kg or under 34 weeks. I was 34 + 3 the day we went into labour.
The doctor started to stitch me up at the same time and they sent the Italian off to the shop to buy nappies as we didn’t have any with us. The doctor said that she thought that it was a normal tear even after the forceps but it felt as if she was working down there for ever. Everyone says that once the baby is out all the pain goes away. Yes the contractions are gone but the sewing hurt like hell, so she had to keep adding local anaesthetics. After she was done she put a massive cloth inside to check if there was still any bleeding.. And then she shoved a pill up my bottom for the pain. Needless to say she was not my favourite person after that and I said that she wasn’t allowed to come near me anymore…
After The Italian came back everyone else left and we were alone in the room until after 2am. We spent this time cuddling our new family member and just feeling calm and happy.

We were taken up to the eighth floor and once there The Italian was sent home.

2.45am they brought some clothes for her as we didn’t have any.
We were woken up every three hours for the next week while we were in the hospital to check for her temperature and blood sugar and blood pressure etc. I managed to breastfeed straight away but she was also offered a bit of formula to top up and luckily she took the bottle easily as well.
It was tough to stay in the hospital for a whole week and I missed Mio like crazy. But every time I felt like I just wanted to go home I felt ungrateful for the help we had received and the privilege we have to receive hospital care for free for that long.
So there it is, the story of how Macy arrived. I wish I had been a bit more like Margaux Dietz and documented a bit more but sadly in the moment we forgot all of that.

No one has given me an explanation of why she came early and I will never find out.

It’s been a while…..

…..four years to the day in fact, and quite a lot has happened since.

I changed my job, I’m still in the restaurant industry but a new restaurant in Somerset House that I joined just before it opened October 2014 – it’s our third birthday tomorrow in fact. Look how beautiful it is –

And the bathrooms, what a dream!

I am not there at the moment however as I ended up looking like this –

Inside was a baby girl called Macy.

She is now nearly seven months and we are spending my maternity leave in Sweden, me and the kids.

I will post the birth story tomorrow and maybe I will get into using this blog again, we’ll see.

The rain is pouring

And I am reminiscing in photos from this spring and summer.

Like this one from when V and I went to the radio roof top bar at ME hotel.

Or these photos from Italy. Also the fact that we didn’t have a care in the world and drove around ischia with mud on our faces.

Or when we went to the play park on our street and M was running around in the fountains.
Today is more a day of candles, teas and cuddles.
I have to say I quite like that as well though.
I hope You will have a lovely Sunday.

A little thing called guilt

Being a full time working mum is a bit of a difficult thing to juggle sometimes.
On a normal day it works out fine.
I wake up at 4am, keep my fingers crossed that I won’t wake Mio up before I leave for work.
Work from 5.30am until 3- or 4pm. Then off to nursery as fast as possible to pick up a 17 month old boy that has been there since 8am.
Pretty straight forward – although I do think its a long day for a little baby.
However, if anything out of the ordinary happens – like a sick baby or, like yesterday, a meeting at work, everything feels different.
The meeting ran over so I had to leave before it had finished – GUILT.
I arrived at nursery at 5.30pm and Mio had been there since just after 8am – GUILT.
Any suggestions, tips, ideas from anyone on how to deal with these feelings and balance work-motherhood as best I can?

I want to do what’s best for this little fella, but I obviously can’t afford to lose my job and I hate not to be as flexible as I used to be at work. Argh! Dilemma!

Italy in pictures

On the way over we had to make sure that Mio was the right size to come in thcabin with us.

The italian went to Capri on our first day to celebrate his best friends birthday. We thought it was too early on our holiday to leave Mio for the night so I decided to stay with his parents. I enjoyed some sun bathing on the terrace and long walks in the beautiful surroundings.

Mio however would’ve been absolutely fine as he was enjoying time with his grand parents. They spent the afternoons in the paddling pool up on the terrace.

And we enjoyed some afternoons in the local bar or gelateria.
On the third day we had a bit of an accident….
Mio fell out of his cot – onto stone floor.

It looks worse than it was, but before we’d been to hospital and checked everything out I cried so much and I was so worried.
After that we built a bit of a fort.

And even though the bed was always on the lower setting, we swapped the mattress over to a thinner one, we made sure it would never happen again.

The eye changed colour from yellow to black to green to purple. Slowly, slowly it opened up more and more. But Mio just kept smiling and laughing.

Especially when he was allowed to try something sweet for the first time ever.
What better place for the debut than Italy and their beautiful ice cream.

Lots of food in different restaurants and gatherings.

Most of the afternoons were spent on the boat.

Mio enjoyed the boat as well although he never came out with us when the boat was actually moving.

A small sum up of our two and a half weeks in Italy. We had an amazing time!!!!

Back in London

I’m sorry I’ve neglected You while we’ve been away, but the last post took me three days to write so I decided to just enjoy our time away and get back to You on our return.
That time has now arrived. We’re in a taxi on our way home from the airport.
It’s mixed feelings coming back to London.
I do enjoy our life here, but as we were packing our bags last night I found myself drifting off into a dreamworld where home was somewhere else.
As it happens, that morning I’d been looking at houses to buy in Sweden, so in my dreams this is where we were heading.

I think one of these would do for us.
All of them seem to be pretty much right on the beach front as well.
Speaking of beach and sea – Mio has had a cough every day since January and now, after a few days by the beach it’s cleared up completely.
So there we have it – a beach house is what we need. For medicinal purposes…
We have waited a good few months for our GP to get us off to an allergy test but we managed to get one in Italy straight away.
And we received the best news ever – no allergies! So the cough was from a very long winded virus.
They did however say that the carpet in his bedroom doesn’t help the matter but we are trying to solve that problem now as well.
A weird post about a few different things but it feels like I had a few things to get off my chest.
I will sort out the photos and tell you more about our holiday shortly.

One of those days

Those of you who follow me on Instagram might have realised that we are on holiday at the moment.
(If you are thinking of breaking in to our flat we have five six foot men staying there looking after the flat for us..)
We are spending most of August in lovely Italy.
The other day the italian and I left the baby with his grand parents and jumped on a boat to Ischia.

This boat leaves Monte di Procida (where we are) once a day at 8.55 in the morning and returns in the evening.

€16 each for a return ticket seems like a fair price. Although the journey only takes 30 minutes I wouldn’t expect a lower price for such a touristy transport.
The boat also continues on to Capri and Procida.
Luckily we ran into some friends on the boat over who told us to rent a scooter.
This made so much sense as the Island is rather big and there are a lot of things to see all the way around.

The lady in the scooter shop gave us a map that made no sense whatsoever but looking at it afterwards we realise that we did in fact go all over the island.

We started off in a place called Sargeno (??) that the Italian’s friends had mentioned to us.
An absolutely incredible place.

Small little natural hot springs in the sea. Some parts were so hot it was impossible to sit down.
There were also something on the stones making it a natural material for a face and body mask.
Off course I took advantage of this and decided to wear mine for lunch.

Needless to say I was the only one…

Afterwards we bought a pot of the lovely stuff from this man who then offered to paint us completely green.

We then took it a step too far (again) and went on the scooter to the next beach covered in a mask…

Even this beach had the most amazing water. Clear and beautifully green.

We stayed there for a while before heading off to beach number three.

To get there we drove through the whole island. Gorgeous views.

This beach, which I’ve forgotten the name of (Maronte?), was a lot bigger, hence a lot busier.
But even here the water was perfect.
After a while we went into the city centre and did a little bit of shopping before getting on the boat again at 18.55.
It was an absolutely amazing day and it felt like luxury to spend a whole day with the italian – just the two of us.

But then this little fella met us by the boat and my heart skipped a best just looking at him. We brought him a little present which he got so excited about.

I would really recommend a visit to ischia if you are in the area.
The only bad points of the island is that there is a lot of cars, scooters, buses which means A LOT of pollution!
I’m not sure why, but this part of Italy is a bit like LA – no one walks or cycles anywhere – it’s all about the cars.
The other weird point I noticed was that there seems to be no farms or animals or vegetables growing. It felt a bit bizarre with no vegetation at all. Well at least not one that would convert into food on the table.

I live for the weekends

And still, if I blink it’s all over.

It’s been a busy non-stop week. Pre baby I used to work up to eleven days in a row sometimes, but now it feels like a long week, just working six days in a row. I don’t know why that is. Luckily it doesn’t happen too often.

The italian cracked the code how to cheer me up at work the other day though and sent me a few photos of the two of them together.

And Mio having his breakfast.

Nursery claimed that he had a bit of an upset tummy on Friday. I haven’t noticed any of it at home but thought I’d rather be safe than sorry so I prepared some boiled blueberries for him.

So now onto the weekend.
Yesterday I went into west and met up with Sofia and little Oscar.

He is such a cute baby.

Really alert and awake.
(The latter photo I’ve brutally stolen from Sofia without asking, I hope that’s ok)
Today we were supposed to go to Mudchute Farm but it then hit me that we are leaving for Italy in a few days and I’m not very organised yet. So we had to go to Westfield instead.

Mio didn’t seem to mind too much.

I hope You’ve had a lovely weekend as well.

Perks of a weekend job

Just before I finished work this afternoon two beautiful boys came in. One older version and one younger version.

They had a coffee / sandwich while they waited for me to finish and then we jumped on the train back home together.

What a treat! I should work on Sundays more often…

We’re mobile on a different channel

As I can’t work out how to use the video function here on WordPress I thought I’d enlighten you of the fact that I am starting to use the video function on my Instagram account.
So, feel free to follow me there and have a look at some different photos from the ones I post here in the blog.
I believe you can find me if you clock here

Soon

Only two weeks left until we head off to Italy. Can’t wait.

I want to get dressed up again and go to fancy restaurants. Both with baby, and without, with the Italian and friends.

Although I am loving the lazy evenings at home at the moment.

Thunder storm here tonight so I am curled up on the sofa with a book, candles lit and a nice cup of tea in my hand.
We’ve had a nice day off, me and the little one.

I introduced him to my favourite Swedish children’s show.

Then we jumped on a train to clapham, and I bought a UV protective sun canopy for his pram.

I fell in love with clapham. So lovely with all the restaurants and cute shops. Our flat would look amazing if we lived there. So many nice interiors to buy.

Back to my book now, only 70 pages left.
By the way, got some lovely news about my friend Cat today.
Why don’t You go in and congratulate her on her gorgeous bump as well.

Our (long) weekend

I walked home after work on Friday alongside a gorgeous and sunny Thames.
The Italian came home and told me that he was off on the Saturday as well.
I then told him that I was also off on the Monday and all of a sudden we realised that we were in for a three day weekend together.
So, the first day off together in five weeks, turned into a right treat of three of them together.

A glass of rosé was certainly in order.

Especially after Mio had redecorated the kitchen with his new “I can eat on my own” idea. He is doing better and better every day though I have to say.

On Saturday morning we went to a newly discovered play park literally five minutes away from us.
They even have these cars to lend the children.

Yesterday we went to Victoria park.

And today we went back to our local play park and Mio ran around in the sprinklers.
Actually that was a lie. He was mainly observing from either my arms or his dads arms.

Afterwards we went to that lovely coffee shop I went to with my parents.

And my grown up little man was drinking his own smoothie.

We’ve had the most perfect weekend.
Lazy morning and then afternoons spent in the sunshine at various play parks.

Other photos

From when my parents was here last weekend.

We went to baby music class on the Saturday morning.
He wasn’t the only baby there, but I cut the other babies out from the picture.

After the class we stopped at our new local coffee shop.

They have a massive garden at the back where Mio can run around.

Afterwards we walked to Mayfair and had lunch at Babbo.

The food was outstanding as usual.

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Mio enjoyed his specially made pasta as well.

Mum and dad enjoyed my…. oh sorry, I mean Mio’s company;)

Some mum and son time as well with cuddles and kisses.

On Sunday morning we walked to London bridge and jumped on a train heading west.

Mio enjoyed the view with grandma.

Again, I’ve cropped the photos quite a bit.
But the garden was full of kids and their parents and grand parents and friends running around, jumping in and out of the paddling pools.
It was a perfect afternoon as it was really hot in London.
An amazing end to a very lovely weekend.
Please come back again soon!

Oblix

The Italian and I decided to celebrate my birthday on Friday instead of Thursday, but we found it hard to decide which location to choose.

I started off trying to book Sushi Samba and got offered 4pm or midnight…
Wow, a year off on maternity leave and you lose all your contacts…

They put me on a waiting list but to be honest the bad timings they offered me put me off a bit.

Thursday afternoon I got a text message from the Italian saying that he had booked us in for dinner at a secret location and all I had to do is get ready to leave the house at 7.30pm on Friday evening.

The taxi arrives and we head off to the Shard. Up to the 32nd floor and the table is booked at Oblix.
Nice one Mr Italian!

We started off with a drink in the bar (frangelico sour for me)

A nice view over a sunny London.

We moved into the dining room and shared a couple of starters.
Some gorgeous scallops and a lovely plate of Burrata.

My main course ( tiger prawns) was incredible.

We opted for both the cheese plate and a lovely brownie sundae.

As we were leaving we ran into a a friend of mine who is the maitre’d at Aqua Shard and got a tour around that restaurant as well.
When we went up to Hutong, the Chinese restaurant, upstairs we were offered to make a wish.

You write your wish on a piece of paper and hang it in the wishing tree.
I have a feeling that our wishes were rather different…;)

Sorry for the dark mobile photos but as I didn’t know where we were going I didn’t bring my proper camera.

Another year

Somehow I ended up having another birthday the other day. It feels like only yesterday I was in Sweden celebrating my birthday last year.

My parents flew over and spent the weekend with us so when we arrived back at the flat Thursday afternoon they’d put out loads of presents in the living room.

Some birthday presents for me, some summer presents for all three of us and some other essentials that we needed.

A lovely flower delivery from Australia.

It was a lovely day and although it wasn’t a special number it was certainly nice to have such lovely company on my day.

Weirdest thing

We’ve just had the strangest day ever.
I finished work at 3pm, went up to where our head office is based which is just around the corner from where the Italian’s restaurant Babbo is.
I waited for him at Green Park tube station after I was done at HO and he finished shortly after me.
We went home together (!!) went to the nursery and picked Mio up (together) and then we went home and played proper family all afternoon.
We were both a bit in awe of the whole situation.
But we both agreed that it was the loveliest thing that had happened in a long time.
I am also pretty sure that I heard something about that he would try and do it again soon but I might have made that up.
I am now waiting for him to pack and get ready for TV night.
We have a few episodes of Kardashians on.
There’s nothing else better suited when your own life feels a bit grey and dull.
A super shallow show on TV.
After that we have How I Met Your Mother though and then early bed for the Italian as he flies off to Italy at stupid o’clock tomorrow morning.

Emotions running wild

A combination of many different factors meant that I was extremely emotional this week.
Leaving friends and family in Sweden was tough, but I was looking forward to heading off to Taste of London where the Italian was demonstrating a dish on stage.

So proud of him! He did really, really well. As if he’d never done anything else.
Saturday, us Londonswede’s, celebrated midsummer but I decided to skip it this year and go to Taste again to support the Italian and Babbo’s stand there.

It’d be rude not to try the food…
Crab salad with avocado puree and risotto with 8 year aged Parmesan. Delicious!
The Italian ended up spending quite a lot of time with us but I also felt ok with being alone as I knew I’d have company on the Sunday.

Sunday came and I got stood up last minute:(
There was only on way to handle the situation of being Billy-no-mates on day three.

Put on the red lipstick.

Make sure baby falls asleep and head straight for the VIP area and free champagne.

But even so, I still felt like Billy no mates as I was the only one without company in there.
Three days surrounded with samples of food from great restaurants in London and I didn’t try a single thing.
I just didn’t feel like walking around when I had no one to share the taste and experience with.
Pathetic, I know, but that’s how I felt.

The upside is that I had three days off though and it was great to spend loads of time with Mio and Monday all three of us were off and we went out for lunch together and just chilled at home.

Mio’s new favourite spot is the kitchen window.

I still feel a bit emotional at times but it is getting better I think.

I was going to post here the other day but I felt that it would’ve been too negative (even more than this one) so I decided against it, but I do have a feeling that this blog might become more about my feelings.
It was so nice to be able to vent to friends and family back home that when I came back here and ended up being alone again in the evenings I missed that.
It then hit me that this blog would be a great place to vent those feelings.
But I’m not sure I’m brave enough yet.

Another thing I can’t stop thinking about is that my Australian “family” might come to London and visit! So exciting!

And lastly, found a great flat in Sweden… Is it silly to buy a flat that you’ve only seen on photos?
It seems perfect for us!

That blues again

The baby and I have just come back from an amazing week in Sweden.

I don’t think we had a second to ourselves. And although I do enjoy my me time I also think that always having loved ones around me makes me happier than sitting on my own every night after baby has gone to sleep.

I would love to live in some Swedish town where friends were within cycling distance and there would always be someone at that dining table with me when baby is in bed.

Things might be changing here in London Town however. We’ll see how it pans out.

I have tried to keep myself busy this evening to stop myself from a post holiday breakdown.

I should most probably go to bed as I have work in the morning but I am still pretending that we are in Sweden on holiday. The Italian came to join US, not the other way around.
If I go to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning to get ready for work, that illusion will disappear.

Two days ago I decided to close down this blog as I rarely find time for it nowadays. But I’ve just finished a book that was a compilation of a girls’ blog and that made me change my mind.

I want to keep going and I will do so, but at my own pace.

I will tell you more soon about my thoughts of Sweden vs London but for now I think that bed is calling me after all.

Sleep well. X

The rest of today

This little fella woke up at 7am as usual.
I got some sort of morning energy and thought I’d use it to bake.

Spelt, sugar free muffins.

And sugar free brownies.

Amazingly gorgeous! I didn’t expect them to be that nice to be honest.

I also booked a hair cut for later in the week. Well needed.

I tried to photograph my new friends – the freckles, to post on Instagram but all photos looked like this, so I decided against it.
But here they are anyway. I have waited for them all winter long. Welcome!
After three days off I’m now going to organise myself for tomorrow morning and then make a cup of tea and watch Made In Chelsea at 10pm. I am completely hooked.

Park manners

We were lucky enough to have another sunny day in London today and we placed ourselves in another park this afternoon.

We had a lovely day, but I was stunned at the disgusting manners of other park users.
For example the couple on a blanket next to us.
They ate a sandwich and threw the package in the grass.
Ate a packet of fruit, same thing there.
A bottle of whatever they were drinking, again threw the bottle in the grass.
Seriously?!? Is that the norm of park users?
They also spotted Mio and other children run around in the park.
Although that’s not the main issue. Children or not, why on earth would you think it’s ok to litter?

Killings and bridges

I have completely obsessed over two TV shows in the last couple of weeks.
The first one is the Killing (the original Danish version off course) and the second one is the Bridge – also Danish.

Well, actually I started watching the Killing about a year ago, but with trips to Sweden etc I just haven’t finished it until now. Not sure how I managed that as it is incredibly exciting with all the twists and turns.

The Bridge I’ve had in my house for a couple of months but forgotten about it.
Wow, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Started watching it yesterday and just finished it now.

To end this on a higher less bloody note I give you Mio all dressed up yesterday as my dad celebrated his birthday.

We didn’t go, off course, as it was in Sweden but I still dressed him in a nice shirt just so that we could pretend that we also lived in Sweden and were on our way to a family gathering.

Sunny Sunday

I’ve been sick and tired of reading on twitter, Instagram, Facebook and blogs about the beautiful weather around the rest of Europe.
But today, London delivered. A gorgeous sunny day that we spent in the park with friends.

Oh how I’ve waited for a day like this. Hadn’t quite realised that I’d need to wait until the end of may for a bit if sunshine, but better late than never I suppose.

Better and better

Yesterday I met up with Sofia for some lunch at Babbo.
It was really lovely and once again time flew by.
As always the food was amazing as well.

Prawn Carpaccio to start, very yummy. I’ve never eaten that before. I’ve had lots if different kinds of Carpaccio but not prawns.

Followed by John Dory. Delicious and beautifully presented.

I wasn’t going to have dessert… but we decided that it was rude not to as we were there, and I’m really glad I did.
And as mentioned in the title, the food and menu just keeps getting better and better. Yummy!
Sofia looked gorgeous and had that lovely glow about her. Can’t wait to meet the little one soon as well. So exciting.

What else?

I can’t say that there has been much else happening these last two weeks.
It’s mainly – wake up, work, nursery pick up, cooking, put baby to bed, put myself to bed and then start all over again.
But let’s see if we can scrape together an incident or two to write about.

Mio has been playing with all his lovely presents a lot.

The Italian got dressed up and went to Tatler Awards.

A nice little write up in the Magazine as well.

Spring finally arrived in London.

And a two hour walk in the sunshine gave me a bit of a “tan”.

I changed the screen saver on my phone.

I’ve spent my time off with this little charmer.

And today even the adult version was off and spent the day with us.
Sausage and Mash at Canteen for the little one which was very much appreciated.
I tried to find a photo of me to post as well but there wasn’t one. Might be for the best though;)

As promised

It might be two weeks later, but here they are, the photos from Mio’s birthday party.

It worked really well to squeeze 30 people in our little flat. Who would’ve thought?

We had a buffet style lunch and I realised too late that we don’t have enough plates, cutlery, glasses etc for this many people. Not a problem I’ll go to our big Tesco and buy some nice party designed paper cups in the morning.
Turns out they don’t open until 12 on Sundays and the guests started to arrive at 12.30.
So I had to go to our local corner shop instead and buy normal boring plastic cups.
I’m sure the food and drinks tasted the same either way but I didn’t like the look of it. Typical of me to be so badly organised.

The birthday cake was the best cake I have ever eaten.
Mille feuille filled with gorgeous berries.

And, to make it even more gorgeous, the layers of pastry inside the cake were covered in chocolate.
And the sides sprinkled with nuts. Yum!

As I am a mean My-Baby-Is-Not-Allowed-Sugar mother, he didn’t get to taste his own birthday cake, but he did get to help us blow out the candle.
It was a brilliant day and I believe that everybody involved really enjoyed it.

We made it

As the invitations for the birthday party went out I thought “I’m sure quite a few people can’t make it” I then started to sweat a bit when most people said yes….
21 adults and nine children…
But do you know what? It worked out really well.
We had a sort of buffet lunch and people mingled while they ate cold meats and cheese etc, and drank Prosecco in plastic cups.

Mio ran around showing off his new skill, that’s right- he started walking- on his birthday.
He got the most amazing presents and we had a really enjoyable afternoon.
I’ve got loads of photos on my camera so I’ll show you some more later on.

Back to work today after a week off with sick baby so I need to start to get ready.

Wow

It’s been a long, long time again. Sorry! A lot has happened since I last wrote to You.
I have started work again.
An amazing feeling. I really do enjoy my job.
It was an odd thing to be on that bike on my way to work though.
I was myself again. It felt as though, for a year and a half or so, I’ve always been in a bracket. I’ve either been “the pregnant girl” or “the mother” as I’m pushing a pram.
But here I was on the bike, and there’s nothing on me, telling the people around me, that I am actually a mother now.
And that felt strange. I just wanted to go to work and tell everybody about my amazing son. People there also wanted to talk about other things which puzzled me.
On a serious note though it felt like I had never been away. Absolutely bizarre.
As Mio was sick the week of the settling in at nursery we kind of just threw him in there the first week.
He seemed to settle in really well though and they were impressed by his progress.
Unfortunately the bug hit again. At the end of the first week I got a phone call that he had fever.
The weekend was, again, spent on the sofa with sick baby. The week after he was at home for three days but we managed to juggle it so we could both work still.
Thursday Friday he went to nursery and was fine.
Weekend passed and Monday he started to get fever again.
As I went to work he got worse, long story short we ended up in emergency with 41C fever.
I’ll never forget the awful sight that met me when I arrived at A&E that evening. It’s frightening how fragile they are when they are ill.
We are now on the other side of that and he is feeling better. I have however missed a whole week at work.
As the Italian also had the bug it felt impossible for him to look after Mio. They would just make each other worse.

The week has mostly been spent like this, and although its tough to see him ill, I do love to be this close to him.

It’s been a gorgeous week here in London, but we’ve obviously not been able to enjoy it, however yesterday afternoon I decided that he was ready for some fresh air and in the evening I noticed a (tiny, but still) tan.
We’ve got a big weekend ahead of us with Mio’s first birthday coming up. I’ve been thinking a lot about this time last year.
At this time the Italian and I were watching True Blood and we had no idea that we were about to meet our son very soon.
I will try not to leave it so long til next time, but for now I really need to go to bed. Good night!

Timing

It was supposed to be the first day of nursery today for Mio.
Four days of settling in before I start work on Monday.
However, Mio got a bit of fever yesterday.
He’s never had fever before. Not the greatest timing.

The last two days he’s been pretty much attached to me.
Saying that though, he’s had a few moments where he could play on his own for a bit as well.
It took me almost an hour to get him to sleep this evening.
Last night he woke up quite a few times and in the end I stayed in his room with him.
Fingers crossed that he will wake up free from fever tomorrow so that we can start settling in at nursery.

Happy Easter

As we arrived back on Easter Saturday I decided not to bother with Easter decorations.
But as I came into the flat I remembered that I didn’t even decorate the flat for Christmas as we weren’t here.
And also, the only reason I have these awful brown sticks in my flat is so that I can put feathers in them for Easter.

We don’t really have any plans though. The italian’s brother was supposed to come for lunch but he just sent me a message to tell me that he can’t make it.
More food for us I suppose.
The sun was shining when we woke up but I’m not sure where it’s gone now.
I’d love to go for a long walk this afternoon anyway so I think that’s what we’ll do after lunch.
Just waiting for Mio to wake up after his nap.
Happy Easter everyone!

Back in London

We arrived back in London yesterday and it was grey and rainy just to make me feel even worse about leaving Sweden. I am sure that was the reason.
The last few days were hectic as always, running around seeing everyone before heading back home.

Mio got celebrated by my parents as well. He got lots of lovely presents, but this cap especially was just so lovely and it made him look so big. Perfect for our Italy trip in August.

I also had time for a coffee with my friend David. He is a pilot but we’ve never managed to find time to go on an aerial tour of my town. Hopefully next time.

And on the last day we all managed to get together, babies and mothers.
I love how we all hang out on the floor whenever we meet with the kids.
In the evening I went for a dinner with friends and had maybe a little bit too much to drink. Not to make me that drunk, but to leave me with a bit of a hang over for yesterday when we travelled back.

As I mentioned, it was grey and dull outside the taxi window when we arrived yesterday afternoon

But it was all worth it when I saw the smile on Mio’s face as he met up with the italian.
And now we’re getting thrown back into the reality with Mio starting nursery on Tuesday and me starting work next Monday. Exciting and scary and sad all at the same time. But mostly exciting I have to say.

Eleven months

I can’t believe it’s nearly a year since I met the love if my life.

He’s eleven months today and he makes me laugh every day.
Like when he gets the remote and straight away points it towards the TV.

We had a small celebration with my sister the other day as they won’t see him on his birthday.
He didn’t quite understand but he has played with his toys and enjoyed his presents afterwards

Today we went to a raw food restaurant here in Halmstad called Spis and Deli. Nice, healthy food but quite expensive as its mostly just greens on the plate.
Afterwards he pretended to be his father.

He can sit for ages and organise things without ever getting impatient. Not sure where he got that, must be from me as the Italian is the most impatient person I know.
Long day today; worked from 7-9 as usual. Then off to the doctor, met my sister in town, picked up my niece from nursery, stayed at their house this afternoon, off to another restaurant for dinner, came home just after 6.30pm, bath and bed for Mio straight away, worked for another hour and a half and then finally – at 8.30pm, I could sit down and relax. Phew a taster of what working life will be like. Come home late, put Mio to bed almost immediately. Get ready for next day, sleep and start all over again.
Speaking of which, off to bed now.
Goodnight!

Could it be…?

Most of today was spent outside! The sun was shining and it was actually really quite warm at times.
Is it possibly spring that is finally on its way?

When I arrived here two weeks ago it was quite warm in London, but another snow storm had just passed through this part of Sweden.
Now, as I’m about to head back to London on Saturday, spring arrives to Sweden and its snowing in London.
What a complete fail.

Life’s twists and turns

Just after midnight on Saturday I got a message from the italian about a letter we’d received for Mio.
When you receive a letter like this regarding your ten month old son you obviously start to panic.
Let me start from the beginning.
About two weeks ago I brought Mio along to be weighed and measured. A couple of people who worked there told me that they thought he looked yellow. I explained that as he is half Italian he’s got that kind of skin tone.
As they didn’t seem convinced by this I started to worry myself and decided to bring him to my GP.
She listened to his heart and squeezed his stomach etc.
She said, as you are here and I’m sure you are worrying now when a few people have mentioned this to you, we can do a blood test but my gut feeling tells me nothing is wrong and he certainly looks like the prototype of a healthy baby.
Fine, I decided to go for the blood test after all just before we went to Sweden and a few days afterwards we get this letter.
No option to call Sunday so I had to wait until Monday morning.
Quite a few thoughts enter your head in 24 hours….
By the time I’ve called them Monday morning and been told that the doctor will call me back between 8.30-12, I start to feel nauseous.
The doctor phones back just before lunch. She start to chit chat (!!) and ask me how we are doing etc. I just want to scream “just tell me what’s wrong with my son!!!!!”
In the end she finally puts me out of my misery, and tells me that…..he’s got a lack of iron….
I mean really?!? Did you really need to use the word urgent in that letter.
I’ve felt awful for two days because I have envisioned us in a hospital bed for months and months…
A bit dramatic I know but it’s hard not to fill your head with these thoughts.
It was then decided that I were to make an appointment here and get a prescription for liquid iron.
I have been in contact with GPs here and we have decided that it is in fact not urgent and it is easier if I wait until I get back and stay with the UK system. I have in fact not had a chance to talk to the italian about this. So if you are reading this, that’s what we are doing. Is that ok?

He was so excited when we were at the hospital, he absolutely adores this toy
And afterwards, when he walked around with his little plaster he felt like such a little boy.
To sum up, I thank my lucky star that the “urgent” news were something that is easy to fix. I don’t know what I would do otherwise.

Change of scenery

As I am about to start work in a couple of weeks, Mio and I headed off to Sweden for my last three weeks. We arrived a week ago and, as always when I am here, time flies.
On Saturday we celebrated my little niece as she had here baptism.

I haven’t had time to go through the photos on the camera yet, but here is one of Mio’s outfit. His usual “lets celebrate” outfit.
The day before I went to my friend’s house to meet her newborn baby❤

She made muffins and we grabbed a spoon each and went for it in the end.

Poor Mio fell asleep while I went for a walk. I brought him inside, opened up his jacket and scarf but left his hat on…
When he woke up his hair was soaked in sweat.

On Sunday we met up with this beautiful girl and Mio allowed us to have a date at the coffee house for four hours.
Yesterday we went to the swimming pool and Mio really enjoyed it.
It was a drop in session for babies with a teacher. This gave me some tips what to do with him so I feel like I can go on my own when we come back to London.

Again, his hair got messed up.

We’ve got lots of snow here it feels like a bit of a joke. It’s nearly April. Surely it’s time for green trees, flowers and sunshine.
Anyway a bit of a catch up of the last week. I am still working from home so I need to get going now.
Speak to you later.

Re booked

After all that organisation we have now rescheduled for tomorrow as there is a “snow storm” outside.

Nearly a year

It’s 10am and Mio and I are both dressed, I’ve worked for a couple of hours until 9am, done my daily zuzka light exercise, had a shower and I’m now on my second meal of the day.

Mio is doing what he loves most – re decorating my kitchen drawers.
And now we are waiting for the health visitor who is coming to do Mio’s one year check up at some point this morning.

1st UK Mother’s Day

I already blagged a present on the Swedish Mother’s Day last year but today is my first UK version.
I got a lovely card this morning that nearly brought tears to my eyes with all the lovely things it said. It also made me laugh so hard as the italian is a funny man and put a lot of humour in it as well. Exactly the kind of card I want to receive.
The italian then went off to work and Mio and I were suppose to go there for lunch, but I decided against it in the end.
It hit me this morning that maybe I should ask a friend to join me as well rather than sitting there like Billy-no-mates. I crossed off the mums as they’d be spending the day celebrating. I crossed off the ones with boyfriends/girlfriends as they all spend the weekends together (I know, some people actually managed to find partners with Monday-Friday jobs) I then realised that the single Monday – Friday workers I know certainly won’t be available at 7am on a Sunday to reply to my whatsapp requests.
I got a reply at 1pm and the other one didn’t reply at all. Haha. But it worked out fine actually. We had an amazing day and Mio has just been a complete sunshine all day. He has laughed at everything I’ve done. He rearranged the kitchen cupboards and drawers. He rearranged all my DVDs.
The only downside is that I didn’t get to eat Burrata for lunch. Ah well, there will be other times I’m sure.
After dinner I decide to wash up while feeding Mio his dessert (
I thought he was a bit quiet behind me.
Where do you even begin to clean up…?

Early bath was needed.

And now I’m on the sofa with my favourite chocolate. A perfect Mother’s Day indeed.

Hippie me and blind date

First of all I am going to start by saying Happy International Women’s Day.
I am at a stage in my life now where I want to celebrate all these days. Six months ago I thought they were stupid, Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day etc etc but now, I’m all up for a bit of appreciation on these days.
I think it’s because the italian works as much as he does so we don’t have the luxury of the every day attention that I expect. The reason I thought that these days were meaningless before is because I don’t think you should need a day to show each other how much you love each other it should be part of your every day routine.
But now, when we see each other once a week if we’re lucky, we need the days. Haha.
I spent the afternoon on a blind date, I suppose you can call it. And no, not with another man because the italian forgot about the special day and I decided to see what else is out there, but with this lovely lady.
We met at a cafe in Hoxton and all of a sudden two hours had passed.
I was due for a hair appointment on Monday but (story of our life) the italian now needs to work so I had to swap it for tomorrow. This meant that I haven’t washed my hair since Monday. I had planned to wash it Thursday but that now felt too close to the colouring date.
Anyway to cut a long (boring) story short I had to cover up my dirty hair with a scarf.

Hence the hippie look.
The room behind looks like a mess. It’s actually only the lamp shade that’s a bit wonky. The rest is straight.

The italian is working all weekend as it’s Mother’s Day here on Sunday and it’s very busy in the restaurant. Mio and I might go there for lunch though. Haven’t decided yet.

We’re off to Sweden on Wednesday so it’s a shame that he can’t have another day off before we go but at least we will have Easter together when we come back.

My eyes are closing now so I might have to get myself into bed.

Good night.

Zuzka Light – my new PT

I have changed my training a bit and I am now working out with this lady.

I like it because it’s one of those trendy high intense training that is fast but effective. As time isn’t really my best friend right now this suits me great.

So every morning as soon as I’ve sent the last work email I change into hot pants and a sports bra and go for it.
I’m under the impression that if I can see the doughy belly and the flabby legs I work harder.
I’m not going to lie, there are quite a few of the exercises where I am doing the “weak” version but I can feel that I’m getting stronger and stronger. I think it’s stupid to start full on. That’s when you injure yourself.

Brag post #1

I name it #1 because there may well be more posts like these in the future. This post is about my man aka the italian.
As you all know he works a LOT!
The one thing that makes that a bit more bearable is that he is doing so extremely well.
So here it goes – brag post #1!

Before valentines day there were a few mentions about him in different magazines

And today I found out that there is full page review in this month’s Your Mayfair magazine.

I don’t have a link to it unfortunately and I know it’s difficult to read like this.
Let me at least quote the bit about my man….
“Each dish is beautifully crafted to provide a light, flavour packed insight into the incredible thinking of head chef Carlo Scotto. At just 27 there is an incredible amount of potential for both his cooking career and the future of the restaurant.”
So there you have it.
I’ve always said that this place is something else. I can see how you would take that quite lightly as I am living with the head chef, but I am certainly not the only one with high thoughts about my man.

On a nicer note

A two hour walk in the sunshine today. A newly discovered pedestrian route called greenway.
It is nice to walk for so long without squeezing onto a tiny curb next to a big road. There is hardly any traffic along this path. Only a few red lights to cross.
The only thing is that I always feel as if there is a slight smell of something not so nice.
This afternoon I realised that the best way to describe it would be – wet dog.
Apart from that a beautiful walk in the gorgeous sunshine.

Apologies

To whoever googled this

(Nice skin without makeup)
And ended up here…

Only yesterday the italian pointed out a handful of blackheads on my face.
Nice!

Recharge

Being on maternity leave is a luxury that not everybody gets to experience.
However, after ten months at homes making brrrrr sounds (car) clapping my hand, waving, counting to five, it is rather nice to go out and have dinner with adults and talk about grown up stuff.
I’m not going to lie, it took a fair few minutes for me to leave my dear subject Mio, but then all of a sudden I though to myself that I haven’t actually mentioned his name for about half an hour. This is new….
As the people I went to dinner with also work in hospitality it was nice to hear anecdotes of their work life. It got me excited about going back to work in five weeks.
The food was really good. I always felt a bit sad that I never made it to the one in NY when I was there so it feels very good to know that I can make up for it by going to the London site often instead.
I started off with a nice pumpkin ravioli. I was starving by this point so I ate it before I remembered to take photos.
Main course, something I really missed when I was pregnant.

With a massive portion of chips!
As dessert goes into a different stomach the question is never do you want, but WHAT do you want.
In this case

Mio just woke up and had some lunch and I think it will be a crime if we don’t go out and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine today.
So I think that’s exactly what we will do now.
I hope the sun is shining on You too.

Night out

I got this cook book as a Christmas present from work 2004 and to be honest I’ve forgotten about it. But as I am off to the newly opened London venue tonight I had a flick through it this weekend and I am very much looking forward to it.
It’s the second Monday that the italian has managed to have off so it was a prefect day for me to be invited out for dinner

I made the living room nice and cosy for him just before I left and Mio fell asleep a while ago so he has got a nice relaxing evening ahead of him.

I threw on a dress, heals and red lipstick and now I’m on my way in a taxi.
We’ve had a gorgeous sunny day in London today and I really feel like spring is on it’s way. So I’ll leave you with my latest photos from Earth Pics on twitter

Brand new

A friend of mine came over for dinner last night and stayed until just after midnight.
Obviously not very late in a normal persons life but as I have woken up around 6.30 mon-fri since November and around 7am on weekends I just never catch up if I have a few of those nights.
And also it’s only in the last month or so that Mio has slept through the night from 7pm-7am so before that, the nights were a lot worse with many interruptions.
Therefor on a normal evening I’m usually asleep by 9.30-10pm.
As I’m sure you’d agree I need to break this every once in a while and last night were one of those once’s.
This morning Mio woke up at 6.15am…
I don’t think so!
I went into his room and explained to him that it was still night.
He then woke up for real at 7.15am.
Up I went and we were playing in his room for a bit when the italian suddenly appears and tells me to go back to bed.
So I got a sort of lie in! For the first time in ten months(!!) I slept for another two hours which was lovely. When I got back up the italian went back to bed.
Mio has now gone down for his pre lunch nap and I’m lying next to my sleeping boyfriend surfing around on the net for a bit.
this is when I realise that I’ve made huge mistake on twitter.
I started to follow Earth Pics a little while back…
And this is what I get tortured with this morning.

I can almost smell the sun on my skin just looking at these beautiful photos.
Saying that though, the sun is actually shining in London this morning.
We are off to a friend of mine this afternoon to celebrate her birthday, maybe we’ll walk there in this gorgeous weather.

A bit of Sweden in London.

I suppose this is mainly calling out to my fellow Londonswede’s, but anyone interested in theatres might enjoy this.

A new show is coming to London in April for a month or so.
Doktor Glas is transferring directly from Dramaten, it stars Krister Henriksson, who is best known for his role in Wallander, and will be performed in Swedish with English subtitles.

I would love to go. The italian and I have been talking about going to the theatre when his parents comes over at the end of April so maybe this will be the one.
I actually saw Krister Henriksson just before I left work, but it never occurred to me that it might have something to do with him working here.

Just writing this makes me miss going to the west end shows.
I used to go quite a lot a few years ago but obviously my theatregoing time is limited now.

If you do make it let me know what you think.

Where do I start?

I am not sure what to do with this blog. I think I just need to get my head around the fact that I won’t post something every day. And with that I’ll just try and enjoy it when I do get a post together, instead of stressing about all the posts I didn’t get together.

Two weeks has passed since my last post and I think the main thing that’s happened is that my little baby boy feels so grown up and big.

He’s ten months now. And recently he just stood there on the bedroom floor.

Not holding on to anything.
I talk to him and it feels like he really understands me. Today I asked him where his sock was and he looked at his feet. Touched his naked foot and crawled over to where he’d dropped the sock and placed or on top of his foot.
I just stared at him and thought, was that just a fluke? But I really don’t think it was.

He’s still a ray of sunshine every day although I have a feeling that he’s got something going on in his mouth as the last few days he’s been a bit more cranky, could it be tooth number seven?

We are off to Sweden in a couple of weeks and I really hope that he’ll take his first few steps before we go.
I want the italian to witness it as well. Plus, as soon as I come back Mio starts nursery and I don’t want him to start walking there. I certainly want to watch him take those first wobbly steps.

We had a few days of spring last week

Unfortunately it didn’t last, and it’s gone really cold again.
I’ve been to baby cinema and baby theatre but apart from that not a lot has happened.

Apart from the fact that we bought a house.

Yeah right… I wish!

We did however get our arses into gear and organised a life insurance the other day. It feels even more important now that we’ve got a baby in our lives. And let’s be realistic, we’re not married, and worse case scenario we could end up in a pretty bad situation if something happened.

I’m leaving you with this quote as it couldn’t be more true at the moment. Today for example I had six (!!) Kit Kat chunky’s.

Busy week.

This week has just flown by. I’m lying here trying to remember what happened but all I know is that I’ve had something on every day, but can’t really recall what.
Lunch in London bridge with a friend.
Baby cinema with Mio and two other little babies and their mums, who I knew from before at least. The whole cinema was full of mums and babies. It was really bizarre to see. There were babies on the floor, on the seats. Babies crying, babies eating. We saw a film called This is 40. It was really funny and I laughed out loud lots of times. It was however just a little bit too long for the babies to enjoy it. Afterwards I had lunch with my friend in clapham common.

Cute cafe and really cute area, I could really consider to live there. I walked from there to Bermondsey later as well which took me just about an hour in the gorgeous sunshine.
Went to my friend’s house to discuss possibly sharing a nanny between April and July. The downside is that it’s a bit far from my house to get there every morning and evening to drop off and pick up. And also the nanny speaks polish. Which is doable for a few months, but I do feel like Mio understands so much of what we are saying to him at the moment in Swedish and English at least that I feel like he won’t understand what’s going on during the days.
Also we already have three languages in the mix, I’m not sure we need to throw in a fourth…
Yesterday I went for lunch with my friend in town and then we walked around for a bit afterwards while I waited for my friend who is here from Sweden to arrive so we could go home together.
It’s been a gorgeous week here and it looks like it’s going to be another stunning day today.

This was Friday morning when I walked through the cemetery.
Emma is still here so I will spend some time with her this morning and this afternoon Mio’s uncle is coming over and the italian and I are going to the cinema.

And here are some live photos of us playing in Mio’s room as I wanted to let Emma sleep for a bit longer.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Week one

First week of home training turned out a lot better than I thought.
I did various exercise videos Monday, Thursday and Friday.
Yesterday morning I did some Pilates.
I might go for a run today but I feel that my knees are aching a bit.
I’ve also gone for long walks every day but I’ve always done that, so don’t really count it. This added on to last night’s dinner might just end up on +-0 however, but at least I’ve started to get into the habit of working out again.

Mio loves to watch me and the other day he was jumping up and down at the same time as me and his trousers fell off.
I will aim for week two to be the same, but minus the eight course dinner to finish off the week.