This years first.

On our way home from daycare we stopped by the park, like we usually do. But today something was very different and new. It was water in the paddling pool. Lovisa got rid of her rain clothes, rubber boots and other clothes very fast and despite the freezing water temperature Lovisa and her friend splashed around for a good while. Brrrr...

What's wrong with this picture?

I believe I found H's missing alarm clock... And I think I just might know who put it in our kitchen lamp...

Excellent timing.

The first day for over a week that the temperature is over 10 degrees and the sun is peeking out between the clouds and what are we doing?

One of the disadvantages of not having our own laundry machine... When I've booked the laundry room I really have to do the laundry no matter what the weather is like. Certain days I miss our house more than others...

I hate being the bad guy!

In our family I'm the bad guy while H is the good guy. He gives Lovisa a cookie in front of the TV in the evening on a Tuesday! I force her to brush her teeth after and tells H that he's giving her bad habits.

H makes her another sandwich with another spread because the first one wasn't good enough. I say that he spoils her and that she would survive without the second sandwich (which she usually doesn't eat either!).

I think Lovisa should go to bed at 8 pm but H thinks she could stay up a bit longer - then she might sleep in tomorrow...

I take away Lovisa's soother in the morning because I don't think it's appropriate that she has it when she's awake and it's not fair to Andréa, who we just forced to give up the soother, that her older sister runs around with it in her mouth. H thinks I'm hard and that we could let her have it a bit longer in the morning...

I could go on but I think you get the picture. I stick to routines while H mess them up... And it's tiresome to always be the mean, hard and bad guy while he gets to be the fun, generous and crazy guy...

Funny, crazy and cozy H...

An update regarding our sleep, part 2.

So far, so good. She sleeps better, it's no doubt about that. She falls asleep on her own, without the soother, wakes up 2-3 times during the night but falls back to sleep on her own two times out of three I would say. She naps one time during the day and falls asleep on her own without her soother and sleeps around 2 hours.

It still feels weird not to run in to her room as soon as I hear her, to look for the soother and check on her. Unfortunately, I don't sleep very well anyway. It takes forever to fall asleep and I wake up several times during the night, it's like my whole body still is prepared to rush up. And of course I wake up as soon as I hear her but I don't go in right away and just after a few minutes she usually falls back to sleep. I figure it might take a while for me to be able to sleep a whole night through. It's been almost three years with a lot of more or less sleepless nights. I just hope my brain understands that it doesn't have to be in red alert mood all the time...

Everyone is Pippi.

The biggest idol in our family is Pippi Longstocking. She's the best! Her creator, our beloved Astrid Lindgren, once said "If I managed to lighten up even one gloomy childhood - then I'm satisfied."

I'm convinced Astrid lightens up a lot of adulthood too.

An update regarding our sleep (or lack of it)...

Tuesday evening before bedtime we suddenly decided to take Andréas soother away. Why wait for the weekend? She cried in anger and of course because she was tired. We checked on her every 5th minute and said "Go to sleep!" with a firm but not angry voice. After 15 minutes her whining and crying stopped and after 20 minutes she slept. During the night she woke up three times, and two of them she actually fell back to sleep on her own, we didn't even go in to see her. So the first night felt very good! Yesterday evening she fell asleep in 10 minutes (H told me, I was out running!). The night was worse but mostly because she pooped around 1:30 am, something she never normally do during the night, and of course that woke her up and disturbed her. Apart from that I think she woke up around three times and like the first night, two of them she fell back to sleep without help.

One of the benefits of this is that we had to limit Lovisa's soother time too, it's not fair she has the soother now and then and Andréa can't have it at all! So now Lovisa's only aloud to have it when she's going to bed. It's been a bit of a struggle, mostly with Lovisa. I'm really surprised that Andréa seems to be pretty satisfied without the soother and she's not whining much more than usual. I'm sure there are going to be times when we'll miss having the soother to put in her mouth but what a relief it is not to search for that stupid tiny thing in the middle of the night, or rush back home when we're on our way to daycare, only because I forgot it!

Anyway, it's to early to say if this method really is working but I'm feeling positive and I think after the weekend we might be able to say if there really is a difference or not. Keep your fingers crossed!

She's pretty happy without her soother...