Halloweeeen!!!

This weekend is all about Halloween. Trick or treat, candy, pumpkins, skulls and horror! Traditionally it's apparently a celebration of the beginning of winter on the northern hemisphere. But I figure it's a little bit like the Swedish Easter celebration, it's a good excuse to eat lots of goodies and candies. This is one of the benefits of being a multicultural family, you get to celebrate and party more!!!

Our pumpkin lights, 2 bucks at Dollarama!

Our "real" pumpkin, about 16 bucks at IGA!

This is what it looks like inside! 

From the pulp you make a mess by boiling it in water...

And mix it with your blender and voila! Ready to make pie or soup!

I made my first pumpkin pie and it was absolutely delicious!

And here's the "shell" with candles inside of course...

 Here's our big pumpkin holding a very small pumpkin!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Why is it so hard?

Sometimes I just need to exhale and accept the situation as it is. But I'm afraid I suck at that. Like today. The house was a real mess. *panic*. The kids where whining. *panic*. The supper needs to get started. *panic*. Why can't I just turn on the oven and "do it". Why do I have to think to my self that it's bloody typical that the house is a bloody mess and the kids are whiny only because I need to prepare supper and clean? JUST DO IT!

A kitchen to panic about?

A few hours later and what do you know! The supper is on the table!

Milk versus cream?

Andréas 6 month check up went well. Only 1 shot, she cried for about 5 seconds and then she was OK. She's smaller than her big sister. Lovisa was 71 cm and weighed 9,3 kg at 6 months. Andréa is 67 cm and weighs 7,7 kg. I guess my boobs contains milk and not cream this time...

Lovisa around 6 months, a chubby cutie pie!

Andréa around 6 months, a smaller cutie pie!

A new camera

Finally we took the time to go and buy a brand new camera. So satisfying to be able to take nice pics again!

 Ready for bed and look at those eyes...

After a nice bath!

10 minutes later....

 A tired dad...

And a tired mum...

H grunted a bit over his picture claiming he has something between his teeth, but I have baby vomit on me so we're even...

Andréa 6 months!

It's unbelievable but she's already 6 months. Outside fall has made it's entrance for real and it's getting colder. Beautiful colors, dark evenings and lots of lit candles. I like it. Not because we have a long winter ahead but for fresh mornings like this one, when the whole family went outside for cleaning up the yard.

Our birthday girl!

Lovisa tumbling around in the leafs...

Dorvals most beautiful lamppost.

Boob and nanny update!

Yes, my boobs are definitely better. Probably because I've aggressively introduced solids in my little girls life, to give my sore nipples a break. This is her eating habits at almost 6 months of age:

6 am - goodmorning! Breastfeeding...
9 am - one big portion of baby cereal and a taste of fruit purée
Noon - vegetable purée and a taste of fruit purée
3 pm - breastfeeding...
5:30-6 pm - one big portion of baby cereal and a taste of fruit purée
7:30 pm - goodnight! Breastfeeding...

It's quite a relief for my boobs to go from 8 feedings to 3 per day. But they are so damned sensitive this time! Last week we all had a cold, Andréas latch were probably poor and whoops! A little crack on my right nipple and there she was vomiting my blood again. Uak! Well, she wont have an iron deficiency that's for sure! I do hope she gets enough nutrients considering I decreased the breastfeeding kind of  hastily but she seems to be pretty satisfied and she sure has a lot of energy. Just take a look at this video clip of her in the "nanny" (well worth the 40 bucks!):

Since my technical scills are limited you have to tilt your head to the left... Sorry...

I´m proud and happy I'm still breastfeeding her. It's been so pain- and stressful and more than once I felt like running to the pharmacy to buy a jar of formula. Since it's the first 6 months that the benefits of breastfeeding are the greatest I do feel more relaxed now. Pat on my shoulder!

Now I have to get some sleep. The past week and a half Andréa's been waking up way to many times during the nights. Probably because of her cold but nonetheless IT SUCKS! Goodnight!

And the award goes to!

Wow! I just discovered that I got an award from another Karin. Check out her blog, it's sincere, cool and entertaining. This award is in Swedish so for my English readers I'm going to do my best to translate.



"Friends are like stars. You don't always see them but you know they're there"

Om man fått denna award så ska man göra följande:
-Länka till den man fått det av
-Fullborda de 5 meningarna
-Skicka awarden till 5 andra bloggar

If you got this award do this:

-link to the one you got it from

-finish the 5 sentences (below)

-send the award to 5 other blogers

1. När ingen ser eller hör mig... sjunger jag högt, fiser och petar näsan (förlåt Karin, det var ruskigt likt ditt svar men jag försöker vara vara ärlig)

1. When nobody see or hear me... I sing out loud, fart and poke my nose (sorry Karin, it was very similar to your answer but I'm trying to be honest)

2. Jag går aldrig hemifrån utan... ungarna. Eller det var kanske inte riktigt sant men det är bra ovanligt att jag lämnar huset utan dem!

2. I never leave home without... the kids. Or that wasn't completely true but it's bloody unusual that I leave the house without them!

3. Min blogg heter som den gör för att... den handlar om en värmlandstös som hamnade i Montreal. Och så tycker jag om snapsvisan "De värmländska brukstraditioner" där värmlandtösen ingår så det passade liksom bra...

3. My blog is named the way it is because...it's about a girly from Värmland that ended up in Montreal. And I also like the song "De värmländska brukstraditioner" where the "Värmlandstös" is in so it fitted nicely...

4. Om jag vågade skulle jag... öppna ett svenskt café här i Montreal med gott svenskt fikabröd och riktigt kaffe! Men jag har ju precis blivit medicine doktor så jag kanske borde ägna mig åt mitt gebit...

4. If I dared I would... open a Swedish café here in Montreal with tasty Swedish pastry and real coffee! But I just took my PhD in medicine so I guess I should do something closer to my field...

5. Om tio år kommer jag att... vara mamma till en 12-åring och en 10-åring. Och förhoppningsvis vara gift med en 56-åring. Hoppsan!

5. In 10 years from now I will...be the mum to a 12-year old and a 10-year old. And hopefully be married to a 56-year old. Oups!

Jag vill ge denna award till följande bloggare:

I want to give this award to the following blogs:

Åsa

Kajsa

Ylva

Cia

Lovisa

Chocolate!

To let lose H:s family in a chocolate café is like taking a bunch of kids to Toys r Us. It's dangerous and will for sure end with that we spend more money then we intended. So, with high expectations of just that the whole family took of to http://www.julietteetchocolat.com for a family reunion.

 Heaven!

 They also had "real" food!

 H:s lunch...

My lunch - une galette

And then dessert....

Amazingly good...

After a brunch like this you can't be anything else than satisfied and a bit sick...

 Happy and on a sugar high....

Look at my big baby (referring to the one to the left)!

It's strange, although we all where on the edge of bursting after this brunch we managed to eat a quite large super to. Go figure...

Trying to stay floating...

Me, coffee and a jar of Tylenol. That's been my week. The whole family has a bad cold so it's just to try to forget yourself and see beyond your own pain. A bit like a delivery, breath Lamaze and endure! This to shall pass (as one of my wise friends taught me)!

Believe it or not but a good thing happened last week, I found a playgroup here in Dorval. Walking distance from home, every Wednesday and Friday. It's in a basement of a community center and it seems like the regular visitors are a few mums that hang out and gossip about their husbands or ex husbands. The coffee is good and Lovisa enjoys it so on a rainy day it's certainly a little treat for us all! So our week is starting to be busy and I like it!

Monday - park or the mall, depending on the weather
Tuesday - park or the mall, depending on the weather
Wednesday - playgroup
Thursday - story time at the library
Friday - playgroup

Some days we go a bit crazy and walk to the waterfront and feed the ducks. This fits my control freak nature just fine, to have at least 1 activity per day.

Here are my darlings, Andréa trying to wake Lovisa up from her way to long nap:

Wake up Lovisa!

Maybe if I push her a little bit? No...

Maybe if I take her pacifier??

Finally a reaction!

It suddenly became very quite so I think the kids might be napping simultaneously. Better join them...

After thanksgiving...

We went up north to celebrate thanksgiving with parts of Hs family. I packed for winter since H has been telling me how much colder it gets up north. Bring warm clothes! So there we were dressed for winter in 25 degrees heat and a burning sun. Lovisa got a cold anyway. It was amazingly beautiful with the miles wide forest in fall colors. Unfortunately my camera is not feeling very well so I didn't take any pictures...

Now we're back to normal life and I'm not feeling very well. I'm so tired. My body aches. My stomach is upset. And everything I have to do seems like a mountain to climb. I would give a lot for a whole nights sleep right now... The kids have completely different nap times right now so I can't really rest during the day. My blog feels really boring right now but I'm definitely in a "down" period.... And now I used the expression "right now" 4 times in this post so I probably should stop writing... At least I can't complain about the weather!

Another day in paradise...

...is playing on my stereo and I can't help smiling ironic. I'm covered with broccoli puré, coffee, snot and some baby vomit. From yesterday morning until now I changed 10 poop diapers. Lovisa's been a pain to put to sleep at night. Andréa has been waking up exactly 4 am every morning for about a week. She's not hungry. She's not sad. She just doesn't want to sleep. I have torticollis and is paying back with soreness from the sudden burst of energy that made me go out and jog the other night.

But, it's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and we had a nice time at the park before lunch. Lovisa talks more and more. Her 2-year check up with Dr L went well. She's 94 cm tall and 15 kg heavy. Some people say that at the age of 2 you can multiply a child's height by 2 and that's the height they will have as an adult. If that's true Lovisa's going to be close to 190 cm. I hope she's going to be good in basketball.

It's another day in paradise...

The pork is on the move...

I did it! Took my first jog for a very, very long time. I put Andréa to sleep and kissed Lovisa goodnight and took of into the dark. And I didn't faint. I didn't even stumble. Now, a shower later, I'm feeling a bit shaky and very satisfied. Ahhhh, endorphines are good stuff!

Sweaty, tired but satisfied

The only annoying thing is that Lovisa still is awake and refuses to go to sleep. I can't understand how this little 2 years old has the energy to stay up this late and still be so energetic during the days. When your 33 years old it's so much harder!

The new nanny

It costed 40 bucks and I hope we're going to be satisfied with it. Andréa doesn't want to sit. She doesn't want to lie on her back or on her stomach for very long. She wants to jump. That's way I got the "Jumperoo" - our new nanny:

It's ugly and bulky but that doesn't matter as long as it makes her happy!

I really hope it does a good job!