Sinusitis from hell.

Headache, green snot and a sore body. This cold doesn't want to let go. I can't enjoy the spring, I can't work, I can't exercise, I can't play with the children. I only have the energy to watch them from a distance and yell at them when they go to far from the house - grumpy, sick woman that's me.

Somebody's happy that she got her bike all the way from Canada!

It's slowly getting there...

You know, to that warm wonderful place called summer. And thank god, I have sinusitis, the girls are snotty and our house is a mess so we could certainly need some sun and warmth. But at least we could have a snack outside today, this years first...

2 years old!

Today I'm turning 2 years old. I don't really care that much about it but my parents and my big sister Lovisa seems to think it's a big deal so I try to play a long. Mum made me a cake, I really liked the cream and the berries on top but the rest was not that great...

I got this strange bike for my birthday, it's called a balance bike and it doesn't have any pedals. I haven't really made up my mind yet, whether I like it or not, but for now I think it's safer on the good old three wheeler...

 I like to play with dolls, to dress them up, feed them and take them for a stroll. I also like to jump in mum and dad's bed, but that's against the rules, although I don't care to much for rules... Other things that I like are hugs and kisses and to cuddle with my family, that's very nice... My biggest idol in the whole world is my big sister Lovisa. She can be pretty rough sometimes but she's so cool and sometimes she let's me cuddle with her in her bed. Lovisa and me started a new homedaycare last week. The woman that runs it, we can call her L, is very nice and today I got a cinnamon roll because it was my birthday, that's so awesome! At my last daycare they didn't give us stuff like that since sugar was forbidden there. Weird if you ask me...

I don't do my nights just yet, I still think it's safer to call mum two-three times per night, just to make sure she's there... I'll see when I'm going to let her sleep a whole night, maybe to the summer, or maybe when I turn three... The nice thing with being two years old is that I still can do crazy things like that and get away with it - because I'm still a tiny, very cute toddler...

And I can finally say finally...

Spring is finally here. This year it took longer than usual to defeat winter but the miracle finally happened and everything feels a bit easier. Even my most sick patients, with severe heartfailure, says that it actually feels easier to breath. Springjacket on!

The mothers kiss.

Another weekend including a visit to the ER. This time with Andréa who got the very bright idea to put a corn up her nose. And I really mean up her nose, so far we hardly could see it. But it was clearly there, a small, yellow piece of corn totally stuck. We tried to make her blow but that didn't help. At one point she fell of an armchair and cried so we put a finger on the unaffected nostril to make her blow it out when she was sobbing but that didn't help. H tried to get it out with a sinus cleanser, that only made her furious and hysteric. So nothing else to do but to buckle up and go to the ER, 9 pm on a Saturday evening. I have had two glasses of wine during supper and was feeling very illegal indeed.

Well there they took us in straight away, apparently folks tend to stay away from the ER on Saturday evenings to go there on Sunday mornings instead. The doctor looked and confirmed that it actually was a corn stuck up Andréa's nose, then he turned to me and asked me if I tried "The mothers kiss". I never heard of that and he explained to me that I just put my finger over the unaffected nostril, blocking it, and put my mouth over Andréa's and blow in it. With a little bit of luck the corn might just pop out of the other nostril. On the second attempt the corn flew out to the doctor and the nurse applauds. A tiny little piece where still stuck though so the doctor had to dig in a bit with his instruments and Andréa had a bit of a cry, but after she was satisfied and very tired.


Bottom line: the mothers kiss rocks and I really need a weekend without going to the ER...

Bye "Sagodalen"!

Today reminds me of this very special day when Lovisa left her first daycare in Montreal. It's been a lot of goodbyes, hugs, laughter's and tears. Andréa doesn't understand a thing it seems like but Lovisa understands a lot. I packed all their stuff that's been piling up in their lockers at the daycare, all their little drawings and I got a last talk about their time at "Sagodalen" (oh what a nice name that is - "The valley of fairytales") with their pedagogues.

Lovisa was running around all excited, kissing and hugging all her friends and the talk of the day seemed to be that Lovisa and Andréa are leaving and going to start at a new daycare. In the car on our way home Lovisa fell asleep and when she woke up at home she couldn't stop crying. She misses her friends already.

Lot's of nice memories...

One more day...

One more day in traffic from hell and then it's over. It's with a big anxiety ache in my stomach that I go through Stockholm traffic every afternoon in the middle of rush hour with the most precious things I have - the girls. How people can choose to take the car voluntarily is beyond my comprehension. Today it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get home from daycare (when the traffic is good it takes about 30 minutes).


On Monday the girls start their new home daycare that's located about a 5 minutes walk from our house - awesome!

A new Swedish word.

Another one for my Swedish readers:

Lovisa om Fetaost: "Jag älskar Tjockaost mamma". 

Sötnöt.

February and March check-up!

Oups... I realized that I didn't update this years goals. So how am I doing with my running and exercise? Not good at all I'm afraid. To much stress, to little time, to many boxes to unpack, to much time travelling to and from work and way to much time spent in traffic since I still drive through the whole city of Stockholm to bring my children home at the end of the day. It's really depressing. My running so far this year:

January: 50,1 km
February: 42,3 km
March: 39, 7
Total so far this year: 140,7 km

I have to get going! And with these nice, new surroundings I have no excuse not to...

At the ER...

It's not a good idea to swollow a coin... Over 3 hours waiting to see a doctor and the waitingroom is overflowing with sick children so I don't think its our turn anytime soon. Lovisa is getting very bored, hope she's so bored she doesn't try this ever again.

Bad woman!

I wish this day could end before it starts... I have a lecture this afternoon that I didn't have time to prepare for. Andrea woke up crying several times this night and Lovisa slept in our bed, on me until I got tired of being tired and pushed her aside hence she woke up and started to cry. Now on my way to work with a cup of coffee, whom ever invented the thermos cup should win the bloody Nobel prize.

When reality kicks in...

I'm more exhausted than usual today. After over a weeks Easter break under the theme "unpacking" I went back to work and the girls went back to daycare. For two weeks ahead we have to bring them through the whole city, everyday from northwest to south where their daycare is. And Stockholm traffic in rush-hour is nothing I recommend to be stuck in with two tired, whiny, little girls...

Lucky for us I bumped into a woman at the park the other day and it turned out that she runs a home daycare around the corner from where we now live and she was locking for two girls to join her group... Yes please, take care off them! So in less than two weeks from now they're going to begin at this new home daycare. I'm really pleased and excited but in the same time worried. This is the worst with moving, the nerve wrecking fact that I have to hand over my children to a total stranger and just pray that they're going to accept it... And that this stranger is a decent woman with good values and a tender but firm hand... Oh the hardships of being a parent...