Happy Halloween...

Well Halloween isn't really a Danish thing, though more and more kids are starting to celebrate Halloween in Denmark. The stores are decorating more, more places sell pumpkins etc. So I bet by the time I'm a grandmother, my grandchildren won't believe me when I say we didn't celebrate Halloween when I was a kid.

Since it has become more popular, and the last couple of years there have been kids here to trick and treat I went out to buy some candy to hand out... yeah I considered just handing them an apple, but I didn't want to be the lousy house on the street, you never know if they will take on the tradition of toilet papering a house as well:)

Nonetheless I'm now sitting on the couch eating the Halloween candy, because only 5 kids rang our doorbell... so I'm happy I didn't buy totally lousy candy:)

I've only celebrated Halloween a few times, and only one time it was the real deal.... that was when I lived in the USA back in 1998/1999 and I really had a great time, and if you want a good laugh here is how I looked on October 31st 1998...

Well I dressed as a nun... the thing is I couldn't dress up as something scary since Ryan (who was 5) were really scared of witches etc. so as a good Au Pair you don't want to scare the kids... and as a good Au Pair you don't dress too sexy either, though there were a lot of costumes showing a lot of skin in the stores... So I ended up as a nun. I really can't believe it's 13 years ago, and I'm shocked everytime Meghan (the baby) post pictures on her facebook page... I still think of her as that little baby, but I feel worse seeing the picture of their oldest sister who is now 21 with her posting pictures from parties... in my head she is still 8 years old:)

Well Happy Halloween everyone:)

Language misunderstandings...

Okay I just started using Google Chrome and on the top it suggested to translate the pages to Danish for me... let's just say I had a good laugh:) Google translate isn't always right, but it for sure is fun... well is not like the meaning is wrong, but the grammar, oh a little accent and I would sound like our Queens husband (he is French and have never learned to speak proper Danish).

The language is a funny thing... just a few hours ago we were watching a TV show (Grand Designs) well this couple were trying something that had never been done... so they were guinea pigs, which in Danish is the furry little animal, though with the meaning of this guinea pig we would say a test rabbit:)

Language can be a hard thing, cause a lot of misunderstandings, but for sure also make you laugh:)

I worry...

That the Danish school system might not be as good as I thought it was. I always thought the schoolsystem was pretty good in Denmark, and best of all it's free. But this Saturday I started to worry... I went to the post office (which is a part of a supermarket) there was this girl who was probably around 18 behind the counter.

I handed over my package and told her "I would like to send this to Scotland" (yeah Wendy something is on the way for you). She said something, but I didn't hear her, so I didn't answer her, she looked at my package, typed something.... then she turned the screen so I could see it and said "isn't that how you spell Scotland?" I told her that in Danish it was with a K instead of an C... but honestly how hard could that be. Well she typed it with a K... then she asked if I was sure, because Scotland didn't exist in her system... I looked at her screen again. There were a lot of flags, and I told her to use United Kingdom... and this was when I really started to worry because she said "But Scotland isn't a part of the UK" I told her it was, and she asked if I was really sure.... it's one of our neighbouring countries, you should know this!

Is it just because I always loved Geography? Or should you know this? I could understand if it was a country on the other side of the earth... but not our neighbour!

Parenting...

I read an article of Danish women who had given birth in different countries, and how thing are done differently everywhere. Like in Denmark we put our babies to sleep in their pram outside during the day, we believe the fresh air is good for them... but I didn't know that we are pretty much the only country in the world who does that.

Here is just some of the things that are done differently from what we do in Denmark...

One girl living north of Los Angeles gave birth in the hospital, and shortly after they put an alarm around the baby's leg. They even practised what to do in case a baby was stolen, just like you have fire drills. That would never happen in Denmark... well hopefully that will never be necessary.

One girl gave birth mid summer in Brasil, but the people at the hospital looked at her and her husband as if they were bad parents because the only put the baby in a body stocking and wrap her in a blanket... Brazilian mothers put their babies in wool body stocking, sweaters, hats and gloves.

Another girl gave birth in Honduras, and after showing the baby to the guard at their house he spit on his fingers and rubbed it around the baby's face, because he said he had bad eyes and the baby could get sick from him looking at it.

One girl, who lived in Belgium and married to a German man got really confused... because in Belgium she was told one thing, her in laws told her something else, and her own family a third way to do things... she said the thing she learned from it was to trust her own intuition.

I guess the last girl is right, because who says what we in Denmark think is right is really the right way to do it? The way they do it on the other side of world must work as well... they have survived for years! Besides it's funny how thing changes over time, what was right when I was a baby is not always what they recommend now... 15-20 years ago the recommended than newborns slept on their belly, today they have to sleep on their back etc.

In the end I think you just have to listen to yourself and do what you feel is right... you get a lot of advice from everyone after having a kid, and I have come to the conclusion that some of them is worth listening to and others should just be blocked out.

Brunch

Last week was pretty much a week of eating... I guess in some ways I was celebrating not having to update you guys on the babyweight challenge.

On Thursday we went out to brunch at a cafe down by the harbour. In different cities in Denmark they have recently started selling what they call sweet deals, you are offered all different things to a really good price, and you got to be fast because there is only a certain amount for sale of each deal. We had bought a sweet deal for Brunch which was 50% off...

via the cafe we had brunch at, stolen right from the website

We had the best brunch, the service was so great and we really enjoyed ourselves. The weather was great so we did go for little walk at the harbour, though thats the thing... the harbour area is still very much industrial.... they are starting to convert it to a usable place since there is hardly any fishing done from Esbjerg anylonger, but I'm sure it will be great when it's all done.

via yet again a stolen picture from their website... hey I was eating = way too busy taking pictures:)

Yesterday was my sister in laws birthday and she had invited us for brunch at her apartment, so once again I was eating... it was a really great brunch, and she had baked the best brownies (I might have had more than one).

So after eating the whole week I was a bit afraid to step on the scale this morning. Yeah I still keep track on my weight every Monday even if I'm not updating you guys... but I had lost almost 1 kg since last week... had I only known that brunch was the way to go I would have been skinny by now:)

Have a great week everyone!

You know you are a mum, when...

You go to Legoland, and appreciate the nice room they have set up for you to change your kid.

You are no longer called by your name, I am now Jonas' mum.

You go shopping and end up only getting stuff for your kid.

Jonas and me in the small boats, he laughed all the way!

You go to Legoland and appreciate the "boring" rides because your kid loves them.

You don't mind waking up during the night because your kid lost his pacifier.

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 12

So it's the final week of my baby weight challenge, so let's start with the weight.

Start weight: 82,8 kg

Last weeks weight: 79,2 kg

This weeks weight: 79,0 kg

Gain/loss: 0,2 kg

Total weight loss: 3,8 kg

So that isn't all that impressive, but I have come to the conclusion that a slow weight loss has a bigger chance staying off, than a fast loss. Besides I did measure myself before and after, and that actually changed more than I expected.

Waist: 84 cm, which is a 4 cm loss

Hip/ass: 106 cm, which is a 5 cm loss

Thigh: 62 cm, which is a 4 cm loss

Upper arm: 31 cm, which is a 1 cm loss

So the weight might not have come off as much as I would like, but I guess it has been remodelled:) It does mean I can fit into most of my pre pregnancy pants, which makes me happy. I will continue to try and loose a few more kilos.

The thing that helped me I guess was that I allowed myself to eat cake, candy etc. because banning it would have made me crave it even more, and I know that as soon as I was done loosing the weight I would go nuts and eat a lot. So trying to eat smaller portions, a bit healthier and less cake and candy than normally was what made me loose a little weight.

I didn't do much exercise, I tried in the beginning, but that is just not really for me, I hated every minute of it, and that was just not worth it. I did instead go for some long walks and pushing Jonas in the pram just added to the walks.

That was what worked for me, but I'm sure if you can cut out all the unhealthy things of your diet you will loose more, and exercising will give a lot as well... but that was just not for me. I guess everyone has to do what's right for them in order to stick with it.

A great weekend!

Well our weekend started early... well none of us are working, so I guess it's weekend all the time right now. But yesterday Frank had a job interview 70 km from where we live, and really close to it is a big shopping center, so Jonas and I tagged along and spent a few hours at the shopping center while Frank went for his job interview. Afterwards we met up and had lunch, which was a really nice start to the weekend.

Yesterday afternoon Jonas had his swimming class, and he really enjoyed it yesterday, and we stayed in the water longer than we usually do. After dinner and putting Jonas to bed we watched the soccer match between Denmark and Cyprus, which Denmark won 4-1.

Today is going to be a relaxing day, and tomorrow Jonas and I are going to Legoland, if it's not raining too bad. Our neighbour had free tickets, and invited us along. If the tickets hadn't been free I wouldn't go, since I doubt Jonas will enjoy it too much yet, it will probably be more fun in a few years. I haven't been to Legoland since Wendy visited in 2004, but we had a lot of fun back then.

So this will be an enjoyable and funfilled weekend:) Have a great weekend everyone!

Photo shoot:)

Well now that Frank is unemployed (hopefully just for this month) we have plenty of time do take pictures... and since Jonas now is able to sit by himself we figured it was time for a little photoshoot. He has been able to sit by himself for almost a month now, which is more than some of the other kids in the mothers group, though Jonas is a bit lazy so he doesn't move around like some of the others... why should he when his mum brings him everything?

So here is just one of the pictures of Jonas, me and monkey Gareth (which was one Wendy gave him, and he loves it:)

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 11

It's all ready October can you believe it? Today Jonas is 7 months... where did those months go? The last week or so the weather here has been fantastic, almost better than it has been all summer, so it doesn't really feel like it's fall yet.

Well let's get to it!

Last weeks weight: 79,0 kg

This weeks weight: 79,2 kg

Loss/gain: +0,2 kg

Well, what can I say? I did go for 2 long walks last week, but I also ate a lot of cake, and other bad stuff! I had baked chocolate cake for the home party with kids clothes on Tuesday, but there was a lot left... and when something tastes good, well I can't get myself to throw it out... so as I said I ate a lot of cake:)

I guess for this last week I really need to starve myself in order to reach my goal of 74 kg... NOT! I guess it will just take a bit longer to get there. I don't have any walks planned, but since I now have a stay at home husband he might want to join Jonas and I for a walk!

Frank had his last day on Friday... though he has a job interview today, and another one on Friday. Though remember he had 2 interviews almost 2½ weeks ago? Well he haven't heard anything from them... honestly the least they can do is write an e-mail that he didn't get it. So again I'm asking for good vibes being send this way:)

Have a great week!