Coma tired it was.

The whole family dead asleep until I woke up thinking it was very bright outside to be before 05:50 am (when my alarm usually wakes me up). Only it wasn't 05 am something but 07 am. 7 am I'm usually on my way to work. I hate to over sleep! I'm very punctual and there's no excuse to be late unless you got hit by the bus, your baby vomited all over you or your flight was cancelled... But to over sleep because your alarm on your mobile didn't ring is just... Pathetic!

Good thing I have the best boyfriend in the whole world that made me a sandwich that I can eat on my way... Couldn't somebody just cancel Monday mornings permanently?

Coma tired.

After a wonderful weekend with my sister and niece visiting I'm dead tired. Even more tired than I was Thursday when I thought I couldn't get more tired. And the reason is a bit pathetic; me and my sister sat up until midnight chatting away drinking wine. But it was all worth it because it's a big difference being tired from something positive you chose to do rather than being woken up 10 times from a screaming toddler. And it was so nice to talk, talk, talk, with my dear, dear sister. It happens way to rarely. And when we finally fell to bed around midnight I slept the whole night until around 7 am. Yes, finally Andréa and me slept the whole night through. Good thing we had some leftovers from last weekends party to keep us awake today...

Party leftovers! 

I can't really call myself a party girl anymore...

Seriously!

Why is it that just when I thought everything actually was going pretty smooth everything crashes? I thought I'd be writing a post about how surprisingly easy it was to be a working mother but here I am feeling like a living wreck... Andréa is not sleeping very well again. It seems like it's her way of telling us that something is wrong. Some children whine and cry, some are unhappy at daycare, some doesn't eat, Andréa doesn't sleep very well. We think she's teething (like we always do when she's snotty, drooling and sleeps bad) and considering it's been a lot of change in her short life recently it's not that strange that she reacts. But it's so bloody hard not to get your sleep. I'll never get used to it. And what is more worrying is that once she finally sleeps I can't sleep anyway. Go to sleep stupid woman! The day after I have no patience at all and everything and everyone seems to be against me.

So what I'd like to say with this post is that it's pretty darn hard to be a working mother. Today was a pretty intense day at work and after picking up the kids, fixing supper and doing all the "musts" I'm a wreck. And just because I'm a wreck I thought I'd cheer myself up with a facial mask. This one is on me: to all my readers I give you  the living wreck:

God night!

The best gift.

The best gift Lovisa got for her birthday according to her mum is the play tent. Lovisa plays in it quite a lot and her sister is even more enthusiastic, she can spend hours in there... Very convenient if you ask me...

If you ask Lovisa what her favorite gift is it's probably the little pink, plastic car or the little pink handbag...

Interval training.

It better improve my running because it was bloody hard. I did my first real interval training today. Warmed up by jogging 1 km, then I ran up our steep and long hill and jogged down slowly, repeated this 10 times and finished the whole workout with 1 km slow jogging. No, it was not fun at all... Now tea and toast and off to bed.

VAB

From one institution in Sweden, maternity leave, to the next; VAB (vård av barn). That means you're home nursing your sick child. In Sweden we get almost 80% of our ordinary salary when we do "VAB:ing". Before I got children I remember those people that often was home for VAB and how all the other colleagues (well, maybe not all but many) rolled their eyes and whispered "is she home AGAIN?!?!". To all of you people that think VAB is some kind of vacation: I don't mind changing with you at all. I'd love to go to work. Because honestly it's like having your worst nightmare come true when you have to see your child sick.

But one thing is clear, it is hard to draw the line when to keep your child home or not. Children are mysterious creatures and sometimes they appear much more sick than they are but sometimes they seem much better than they really are. This time it wasn't so bad with Lovisa's fever after all. She woke us up in the middle of the night with a terribly high fever, we gave her water and Tylenol and after a while she fell back to sleep. This morning she was tired and slept in and I didn't dare to send her to daycare. But she's been fine today, no fever, very energetic and really bored to be at home with me.

I hope I can work tomorrow, VAB is not the vacation you want, believe me.

I'm so good!

Friday morning I did it - I ran to work for the first time. It took a bit of planning; clothes, breakfast, extra shoes, towel and shower items I already brought earlier during the week. It was a great start of the day, I took of at 6 am to avoid the worst morning traffic. My route went through the central parts of Stockholm since I live south of the city and work north of it, I ran over 5 bridges and enjoyed the beauty of our "water capital". 51 minutes and 9,45 km later I took a quick shower, ate a fast breakfast and then I was totally ready to face the day! Instead of my usual morning pale face color it was more reddish this Friday...

Today I ran home from work. A little bit more messy with a lot of traffic, pedestrians and cyclists but it felt great too. I ran directly to the daycare and gave my little darlings a sweaty hug. To run from work to the daycare was longer, almost 11 km and it took me 1 hour since the traffic was worse. Now I'm sitting here feeling all proud over my new habit (two times makes a habit - right?!) because it's so great to have the opportunity to exercise without taking time from being with the family. This way I get a really good workout and nobody misses me! And honestly, it doesn't take that much longer to run than taking the metro and the bus... But it do take more planning and a strong mind!

Happy after my achievement!

H thinks I'm rather crazy but I think I'm superwoman! Wohooo!