Coughing out a blogpost...

I know I had the same feeling last fall... A feeling that I just want to fall asleep and wake up when it's all over, the darkness, the cold (well, not so cold yet but just the feeling that's it's getting there) and the bloody infections from hell! Wake me up in March when it's brighter, healthier and happier...

This weekend the girls have been waiting for something more fun to happen than me trying not to cough up my lungs, H has changed the car tires so we can be safe when the first snow falls, we did tons of groceries, we cleaned the house and probably did at least 10 batches of laundries. I bought a beautiful pumpkin that we carved up and just like last year I managed to forget how much work it is to take care of the pulp and carve out the little funny face... It's a work-out, at least when you have a cold from hell...

The girls making faces on the trampoline, maybe for the last time this season?

My perfect pumpin!

 Practicing...

And here it is all lightened up in the dark October evening...

I'm sorry I don't update the blog more frequent nowadays but unfortunately this is all I have time for right now and maybe this is the way the blog is going to be from now on, updated about once per week. In the "blogworld" one week is an eternity but in my world one week goes by in the speed of light... Swish!

Beam me up.

It's not a good time for blogging. My life's to busy with challenging things and leaves no time for extras. This week's been insanely challenging. My new job takes a lot of my energy and I'm exhausted, nor am I used to work full time. Once the weekend is here H and me think we're going to be able to do all these things that we didn't have time for during the week but the weekend is so short and the girls demanding. Today was the worst day in a long time. We've been arguing about everything, the girls been fighting over everything, from tiny stupid details to big fist fights...

At least we manage to bake a delicious apple pie and we manage to eat it without anyone shouting or yelling to...

Lovisa's new thing: making a face...

Andréa is in her worst terrible two's, doing everything she's not suppose to...

I was so pooped this evening I wasn't far from crying, the house is a mess, the girls impossible and H and me exhausted and outside it's dark and cold. Could somebody please just beam me up to a warm, nice place were nobody yells at me?

Well, at least I bought myself a nice pair of compression socks and "ran them in" today. They're not the sexiest socks I've seen but very comfortable! Now tea and sleep...

Hässelbyloppet - 46:15!

One year ago I ran Hässelbyloppet in 50:24 and felt a little bit disappointed that I didn't manage to run sub 50. Today I ran it again in 46:15! New personal best and a real surprise for me since a had a couple of stressful weeks behind me with to little sleep, a cold that doesn't want to go away completely and a sore ankle... But somehow today just worked out anyway, it was so beautiful, clearblue sky, fresh air and a lot of motivated runners!

I prepared by eating oatmeal and painting my nails pink (now that I've started with this ritual before a race I can't stop) around 11 am, then I walked to the start around 11:45 am, the first seeded runners went off at 12 am and I had to wait until 12:30 pm to start running. I didn't mind waiting, the sun was warm and the mood high. The start went well but it is annoying that the first kilometer, that was my slowest, is so crowded. After 2-3 kilometers it loosened up a bit and I could run in my own pace. I felt pretty soon that I was dressed to warm in my long-sleeved running top with long-legged pants but it turned out OK in the end... Last year I stopped to drink some water around 7 kilometer and I remember regretting this because it steals quite a bit of time and got me out off pace so today I skipped the water and just kept running - a good move, I certainly don't need fluid on a 10 K race...

Getting closer to the goal I started to look around for H and the girls, they were suppose to stand close to the goal. When I entered the arena, Hässelby IP, I was so tired, my legs numb, but I had a great feeling knowing that I was close to beat my personal best. And there they stood, my beautiful little family and I heard Lovisa cheer me on and I waved and screamed "Hi!" and made it all the way into goal. Close to tears with a happy but somewhat pained expression I got my medal, a banana, energy drink, water and a cinnamon-bun - all tasted heavenly!

Hässelby IP, the crowd cheering on the runners during their last meters...

H did his best to catch me in a photo and there I am, in the blue top, on heavy legs reaching for the goal!

Giving my fans some cinnamon-buns after the race...

This race was definitely harder than the halfmarathon, a shorter race means that you have to run faster and being on the edge of your capability and that makes it more challenging. But I made it and I'm so proud over another personal best, I can hardly believe it...

She's cycling!

Today was a beautiful fall day. Blue sky, warm colors and fresh, cold air. We were outside taking care of two kubicmeters of wood that we're going to use for cozy fires during the upcoming dark months... The girls were cycling in the street and I asked Lovisa if she wanted to try cycling without her support wheels and the answer was of course yes. We removed them and after a few trembling attempts she just cycled off like she never done anything else... Our little hero...

I'm convinced that the reason for her managing to cycle right away is the result of cycling all summer on a balance bike, she already had the balance, she only needed to pedal and push the breaks and that was a piece of cake. Another milestone passes by in the speed of light...

The four-year old.

Having a four-year-old in the family is interesting, fun and challenging. She wants to know everything from tiny details to big, universal questions. She's capable of so much but when she sets her mind to it so little, for example it could easily take her an hour to put her outdoors clothes on, just because she decides not to and in the end H and me are putting her clothes on even though she's very capable. Stubborn as no one else she can drive us insane one moment and the next make the whole family laugh. Lovisa questions everything and leaves nothing unexplored.

Where does stoves comes from?

What's inside the body?

Does ducks have a butt?

How did you and dad meet? Followed by Are you in love?

Where does paper come from? When I answered trees she gave me a skeptic look and said Trees?!? Like the one in our garden?

Does monkeys eat food?

She has big debates about everything from what we should eat for supper, what you can and can not do, what she likes, what's cool and what she thinks of our neighbors, friends and relatives. She talks nonstop and it's almost impossible for H and me to have a conversation. One moment she seems so grown up in her way of thinking and in the next so immature... For example yesterday evening I was putting the girls to bed and usually I sit on a chair in their room until they fall asleep. After a while Lovisa looks up from her bed and asks Why do you just sit there mum? I explained that I was waiting for her to fall asleep like I always do, hence Lovisa said It's OK mum, you can leave, I'll fall asleep on my own. Chock! Suddenly she seemed so grown up... I said goodnight, left the room and after 10 minutes she came sneaking down the stairs wanting me back... Not so grown up after all...

The last quote from Lovisa before she fell asleep just a few minutes ago was If you dream about marshmallows you can't really eat them... 

Sleep tight my little heart...

The puzzle of life...

And just like that another week past and I didn't write one, single blogpost. I'm way to busy with the big, challenging puzzle called life. To summarize what happened since I last gave you any news here's a few headlights from the past week:

H and me had one of those amazing and rare date-nights. We did a rerun of one of our favorite things: bowling night!

 H making his bowling moves!

Me and my bowl...

H had a craving for burgers and ate the biggest burger I've ever seen, mine was half the size and I was so full I could hardly walk to the metro after...

H:s burger...

Sunday we went to IKEA and on our way home we bought some "fika". In a weak moment I let Lovisa chose what she wanted and of course she picked the biggest cookie in the whole patisserie... 

Today I threw the cookie leftovers away. Next time I'll pick the pastries...

Monday I started a new job. I'm going to work 50% at my old job and 50% with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a really cool way to examine your heart that provides a lot of information without any radiation. This is an exciting and challenging experience for me and I've gone from working part-time to full-time and that's one of the reasons our life puzzle is more challenging right now. This means longer days for the girls at daycare and it also means that H and me spend almost the same amount of time at work, something we didn't do since before the girls arrival...

For me it means getting up at 5 am in the morning so now it's time to say goodnight...