All about Connie

Catching up...

2012-02-13T12:56:00.006+01:00

I'm still here, and I have no excuse for not blogging for so long! The best excuse is that I haven't had much to blog about, so now I'm back doing a little catching up. So since my last post here is what has been going on.

Last Monday they called from the daycare that the woman taking care of Jonas was sick, and asked if I wanted another spot at another place for him. I figured since he was still trying to settle in and I wasn't working it was better to keep him home. It turned out she was sick all of last week, but Jonas loved staying home. So today was his first day back, and we were going to try that I would stay for a little before leaving him there, but it was like he knew I was going to leave, because he was clinging to me, crying a bit etc. So when I waved goodbye he was really upset, but after I had left it had been a little better. He was still upset, but he was in a fairly good mood while they were eating. And the best thing was when I picked him up there was no

screaming when I opened the door... he started crying a little shortly after, and went totally crazy when he saw me... but since he hadn't been there for a week she thought he had done pretty well... yeah there might still be hope...

On Thursday night I was at a clothing home party, and I got a few dresses and some leggings (this company makes the best quality of leggings). So now I'm impatiently waiting for it to arrive...

This was one of the dresses I got via

On Friday a friend of ours and his new girlfriend and their brought together 5 kids came to visit and to have a photo shoot in my husbands "studio". I figured since they were staying for dinner we would just order pizza, because who knows what they will like and more important what they don't like... and honestly cooking for 9 people just didn't seem all that fun. We have a new pizza place nearby, that make really great pizza, so we ordered 3 family sized pizzas... oh boy, did we get pizza! I think there was more than 1½ pizza left... 2 family sized pizza had been more than enough, they we bigger than most other places!

The pictures turned out pretty amazing if I have to say it, I might be a bit biased since it's my husband being the photographer.

Yesterday was my husbands birthday, which was really low key, since we figured both out families will be here in a couple of weeks for Jonas' birthday, so we will celebrate his birthday then too.

Otherwise I have been crocheting and I am also in the process of making a purple purse of coffee bags, but more about that another day.

Have a great week everyone!

Crocheting...

2012-02-03T18:37:00.004+01:00

The last couple of weeks I have been spending more and more time at my neighbours house (she is also on maternity leave). She does quite a bit of knitting and crocheting, and now I have been taking crocheting "classes" at her house.

My first piece was a ball for Jonas, mainly because it should be a pretty easy piece and since Jonas loves balls and things that rolls it was a win win situation:) Since it was pretty much the first thing I have been crocheting I think it turned out pretty well!

My next project is a blanket, though that might take a bit longer and depending on how it turns out there might be pictures:)

Okay I said I had been spending time there the last couple of weeks, and let's face it, it hasn't been crocheting all the time... she is an excellent baker too. So when she sends me a text message that she has been baking and I should come over for coffee... well then I doesn't take me long to change any plans I might have:) Especially during this cold and snow we have been having, I bet anyone would take an invite for coffee and fresh baked bread with cheese... in the long run though I think it's good I'll be starting work in a months time, otherwise I would get a massive weight gain from this:)

Enjoy your weekend everyone:)

The hard part of being a mum...

2012-01-30T10:17:00.003+01:00

Jonas starting daycare is no fun. As I wrote in my last post Wednesday was his first day there alone, and called after little over an hour for me to pick him up. On Thursday it had gone by a little better, he was still crying, but she was able to comfort him. Then Friday, well it was her birthday and 2 other daycares were visiting, which meant a lot of kids, which I guess was a bit too much for Jonas, because again he was really upset...

Over the weekend he has been teething, and that just causes crying, less sleeping and luckily a lot of cuddles. Though this morning he seemed a bit better, at least he did cry as soon as he saw his toothbrush. But he did cry when I handed him over at the daycare... that is the hard part of being a mother, handing over a crying child, who puts his arms out towards you when you leave... oh I really hope he hasn't been crying the whole time when I pick him up, I really hope that soon this will be better...

But what makes is worth it is when you get the smile from him when you go out in the snow. On Thursday night we had quite a bit of snow, so this weekend we went out with his sled, and he seemed to enjoy it, even though he fell of a few times. He didn't cry when hitting the snow, and was smiling when he got back on...

Please keep you fingers crossed for him to love daycare soon:) I'm just happy that it will be a while before a start working again, so he can start slow!

A winter walk...

2012-01-25T12:38:00.006+01:00

Today was the first day Jonas was going to be in daycare by himself. When I left we agreed that he should stay for 2 hours, and then I would pick him up again, so he got to start up slowly. About 1 hour and 15 minutes after I dropped him off, she called that maybe we had overestimated the 2 hours, because he was really upset, kept crying and she couldn't get him to calm down. So I went to pick him up, he was quite happy to see me, but it took a bit before he calmed down completely:)

When we got home I decided to take Jonas out for a walk. We got a little bit of snow on Monday evening, but nothing to brag about. The sun was shining, and the ground almost covered with snow I figured it was the perfect weather for a walk to the little lake nearby.

So we put on our warm clothes and started walking. When we got to the lake I was kicking myself for only bringing my pocket camera, because it was an amazing scenery, and well my pocket camera doesn't take the best of pictures.

We went to the feeding spot, to feed the swans and ducks with some old stale bread. But the first part of the lake was covered with a thin layer of ice, so it took a while for the swans to make a "road" to shore. But I think they were happy we brought food, and Jonas was happy watching them eat.

I really enjoyed watching the swan babies (I don't know what the proper name for them is), that had got a bit bigger than this summer. It was fun to see them trying to walk on the ice, they looked like Bambi on ice. Their parents seemed to have tried it before and were better at it.

When we got home, we had lunch and now Jonas is sleeping, hopefully the fresh air will have him take a long nap, he seemed to be needing it, especially since I for some reason was really upset from 1.00 am till 2.30 am last night... So a good long nap is in need, maybe I should take one as well:)

Yet another post about daycare...

2012-01-22T14:58:00.005+01:00

Today Jonas is having his first in daycare, my little baby is now a little boy:) We got an e-mail back from the municipality (remember I wrote about it here) well they basically don't care, we got a long explanation on how they try to adapt the daycares opening hours into the modern and flexible family... well why do we get the lousy opening hours when? And in the end they wrote "we hope you will find a solution to your problem soon"... well that was kind of why we wrote you, you were suppose to find a solution to our problem as the municipality guarantee... Well I got so fed up with this I guess we will try to work with the daycare we got...

That is for now anyways... on Friday we went to visit a privately owned institution, and now I am kicking myself for not having signed Jonas up for a space there when he was born... it is the most lovely place, there is lots of kids, lots of adults, an amazing playground, it's on an old farm and the got animals like goats etc. for the kids to visit. But of course they are full, they don't take any kids under the age of 2 in until 2013... but we have signed Jonas up, and are hoping that we will get a spot. Sooner or later we are moving him there. I have heard so many people saying but moving him around is not good for him... I know, but the way I look at it is we are starting him up at this woman today, and by the age 3 he will be moved into kindergarten, if we instead moves him to this other institution when there is a free spot and then he will be able to stay there until he starts school... so both ways he will only be moved once, so I don't get all the fuzz!

Another cool thing about this institution is that it's open 24/7, well you get 200 hours a month, otherwise you have to pay extra. But these hours can be spent however you like, so if my husband would get stuck in traffic on the way home, he wouldn't have to stress about not being at the daycare before they close... and even better they don't "force" us to use our vacation in the middle of July and between Christmas and New Year etc. The daycare you get through the municipality is closed 2 weeks during the summer (the most expensive time to travel), on all national holidays, between Christmas and New Year... and well this is not always the time we have off, I do work between Christmas and New Year, I don't always have the 2 busiest travelling weeks of, and since I work in a garden center I might even work on national holidays... so we are really hoping to get him into this institution, so keep you fingers crossed for him to get a spot soon:)

Well I should get things ready for his first day in daycare, or should I say our first day in daycare... I will be staying with him:) Have a great week everyone!

The end of my maternity leave...

2012-01-18T11:14:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow is officially my last day of maternity leave... I can't believe that it's been more than a year since I stopped working! That went fast! Though I still have my 6 weeks of vacation before starting work again, but I'm sure they will pass by even faster than I would like...

On Monday Jonas will have his first day in daycare (nothing new has happened so far, so we are starting out here and see how it goes). Well the first day will actually only be a few hours, and I will stay there with him. Depending on how well that goes he will then be staying there a few hours by himself from Tuesday. I guess I'm lucky to have so much time for him to get used to being away from me... or should I say, I have so much time getting used to being away from him, I bet it will be harder for me to leave him...

So this week we have really enjoyed sleeping in late... well he usually wakes up around 5.30, he will get a bottle and then he used to go back to sleep, but not now. So he will play around in our bed and I will watch TV. Well I'm watching the news, because honestly nothing good is on that early... only different kids shows and boring sitcoms. So far Jonas hasn't caught on to the kids shows, though it is the strangest things that will get his attention. You can be sure if the weather forecast is on he will stop whatever he is doing and watch it. A soccer game can hold his attention for a little while as well as the voice of Dr. Phil... What should I make of this? A soccer game, sure he is a boy, the weather forecast, yeah I guess it's nice to know what to expect since he is sleeping outside during the day, but Dr. Phil? I have no idea why, I guess he just sees him as a nice guy, which I am sure he is:) But after about half an hour or 45 minutes of TV he will be back to sleep again for a few hours, so I'm enjoying that as long as I can:)

Well that will be all, I am off to enjoy the last of my maternity leave:)

A letter to the mayor...

2012-01-12T11:51:00.004+01:00

Well first I have to say I'm blown away by all the comments on my last post, thank you so much, they really make me happy:) And the little cheering up has been needed the last few day, I have been more than a little upset, I have been pissed.... yeah I thought I was pissed when the guy with the car blew us of, I guess I wasn't... let's face it, usually when something pisses me of I bitch and moan about it, but doesn't really do much about it.

In Denmark all municipalities offers daycare for children, some municipalities has guarantee that you will get a spot for you kid, if he/she is sign up 3 months before you need it. We live in one of those municipalities, and I signed Jonas up for a spot last May, which we would be needing in the end of February this year... So I thought (called me naive) that I was secured a spot, especially since I had to choose what was most important to us, if we wanted something close by (yeah that would be nice, but not an absolutely must), what kind of daycare (a private person with only 4 kids or a public with loads of kids, and more adults) or the opening hours. We chose the opening hours to be the most important. Since my husband is commuting quite far at the moment he leaves around 6 am in the morning, and with me working in a department store my hours shift a lot, some days I will start at 6 am, some days later, some days I will have to work till 9 pm, which means my husband will have to pick up Jonas, and because of the commute the long opening hours will be necessary...

This smile has also been cheering me up:)

So on Monday I got a letter that he had been accepted to a private daycare, which I am kind of okay with, but the thing is she doesn't open until 7 am... so my husband will never be able to drop Jonas off, because then he won't make to work in time, and well I can't drop him off either if I have to be at work at 6 am. So I called the bitch at the municipality that I have had multiple discussions with, every time she is so rude... I said this won't work, this way one of us will have to quit our job and be on daycare... but she didn't care, maybe I could get another spot in the fall...

Usually this is where I would stop doing more about it, and just really bitch and moan about it, and try to make it work. But not this time, this just affects me way too much, I'm going back to a job I love, and now I might have to quit because I can't get Jonas into a good enough daycare?

So we wrote a letter to the mayor... yep, we told him we didn't understand this whole thing. Every time you turn on the radio or the TV some politician is talking about people being willing to commute or move to get a job. My husband was unemployed for 1½ month this fall, and ended up having a long commute to his new job, he did what every politician say we have to do, and now we can't get proper daycare for our son... the solution they have given us is not acceptable and one of us might have to quit our job...

We got an e-mail back that someone was looking into our case, and we would hear from them soon... so I'm hoping that when we hear from them it will be that we got another daycare, with better opening hours.

On the bright side though, Jonas and I went to visit the daycare we got yesterday, the lady seems really nice, and I am sure she will take good care of Jonas. She is currently also taking care of a 3 year old boy, though he will soon be going to kindergarten instead, a 2 year old girl and a little boy a month younger than Jonas.

And today I called my boss, and told him about our situation, and he said that we would work around it until I got another spot for him... I think I said this before, but I will say it again, I got the best boss ever....

So please keep your fingers crossed that I will get a better daycare spot for Jonas, and soon:)

What did we do before the internet?

2012-01-07T10:46:00.003+01:00

I have a hard time remember my life before the internet, I doubt I could live without it now. But back in 1998/1999 when I was an Au Pair in Maryland, USA I didn't even have an e-mail account... I wrote and received a lot of letters and I loved it. I loved seeing the mail man driving up our street in his little white truck, I love the mailboxes with the little flag (we don't have that in Denmark), I loved being able to send my letters from the house, just had to put them in the mailbox and raise the flag and the mail man brought them with him.

I got my first e-mail account after arriving home from the USA, which I thought was a great way to stay in touch with people. That was pretty much my first meeting with the internet... well not exactly I had been online once or twice in high school, but the internet was incredibly slow at the school and we weren't allowed to use it if it wasn't for school work...

Well since then a lot has happened. I got a facebook profile at some point, I can't remember exactly when, but I have uploaded the first pictures in the fall of 2007, so it was probably around then I got on facebook... honestly how did people stay updated while on maternity before facebook? I am so glad I can stalk my colleagues on facebook and stay updated:)

On October 30th 2009 I wrote my first blogpost, and who knew anyone would actually read my blog? Every time I get a new follower I might actually do a little happy dance:) I now have 21 followers, which compared to a lot of other blogs is nothing, but I'm happy for every single one of my readers. I love blogging because I get to know people from around the world, and learn new things.

Just this week I got a new cell phone, and I am actually now able to go online on my phone (yeah I know I'm really far behind in that area). My relationship with my phone used to be a thing that belonged in my purse and every once in a while I had to remember to recharge it... now I can download different apps etc. A whole new world to me:) Who knows... someday I might even get a Twitter account, which I still don't get the big deal about....

Twitter or not Twitter I don't think I could live without the internet today, I have a hard time not checking my email or my facebook several times a day... well that might change a bit when I start working again... well that was just a few of my thoughts, have a great weekend:)

A New Year has begun...

2012-01-02T21:35:00.005+01:00

Hope you all had a wonderful NYE. We spent the night at some friends house, with all the kids we were 14, and I had a great time, even though I had to stay completely sober since I was driving.

I was a bit tired though, because of all days Jonas didn't care to sleep until around 8.00 am as he has done the last month or so, but at 6.30 am there was no way we would get him to sleep for a the next couple of hours. So we were up early, and so was I on January 1st, so yesterday was spent relaxing as much as possible... and after Frank got up after noon we went for a walk, since the fresh air would probably do us good.

I think with all the Christmas and New Year going on it almost became enough for Gilbert the cat... or maybe he just got enough of Jonas and he tried to take his own life...

Well not really he fell asleep on Jonas' train tracks and we put Jonas on the train, which wasn't moving and took the picture, and as soon as we turned on the tr

ain he was awake, but it just a great photo opportunity.

On New Years Eve all the kids had some fun while I was busy texting with my brother, so this was how I ended up looking... the couldn't believe I just sat there and let them put it all on me, but hey it was harmless fun and they really enjoyed themselves.

I haven't made any resolutions, because honestly I'm the worst at keeping them, and what is the point of making the 1st of January the date where you make changes? If I decide not to eat chocolate any longer (as if that would ever happen) I can start that on March 18th, can't I? Or do I really have to wait for January 1st? What I mean is that I think you have to make the changes when you feel like you can change them and not just because it January 1st.

Happy New Year, looking forward to blogging the next year as well:)

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T10:19:00.002+01:00

Well first I wanted to do a look back at 2011, but that will just be way too long. So to keep it short this must be my favorite post this year... can you blame me? Becoming a mum has definitely been the highlight of my year:)

I just looked through my post from the last year, and what can I say? It's been a really good year, so 2012 you better kick into gear if you have to match 2011. My only complaints this year was probably passing my due date... and there was a lot of complaining about that in the end of February and they I did a mad post in the middle of December when someone had promised to deliver a car and didn't... honestly if that is all I have to complain about, well then I should just shut up! So yeah 2011 has been a great year, Jonas totally being the best thing happening... keeping my fingers crossed that 2012 will try to match up:)

Happy New Year everyone:)

Christmas is over...

2011-12-29T12:27:00.007+01:00

I almost tend to say Christmas is finally over... as much as I love Christmas, I am also happy that it is over. Those days over Christmas has been busy, filled with lots of people, we have enjoyed their company, but now it's enough... for Jonas at least, the last couple of days he has been exhausted, and have been sleeping a lot, I guess he has a lot to catch up on.

Christmas was crazy, he got a million presents, and the sad thing is he doesn't get why, and he is mostly interested in the wrapping paper...

Here is just a few pictures from our Christmas days. We decided that Jonas should get his presents little by little, instead of all at once. So on the 23rd he opened the first present from my parents. The little car itself wasn't really the most interesting thing, but the plastic orange in the little basket was his favourite... especially if someone would pick it up when he threw it:) A friend of mine had bought him some Lego Duplo (her husband just started working at Lego), he got that present in the morning on the 24th, but at first he loved the paper, until we got the box opened and he could throw the blocks... My brother went crazy and got him a train that rides on tracks that takes up half the floor space in the living room. Jonas likes to ride the train some of the time, but not if he is too tired. All the "boring" gifts as clothes, shoes, books etc. for him we opened while we opened our presents in the evening of the 24th. On the 26th we went to a family Christmas party at my parents house, and my cousin and his girlfriend brought along Jonathan who is 4 months older than Jonas. He is walking and starting to talk, which meant every time he saw a santa figure he went "ho ho ho". Though it doesn't look like any of them like to be photographed during lunch...

The next couple of days will be spent relaxing and getting ready for New Years Eve. We are spending NYE at some friends, which we also did last year. The will be lots of adults and kids, though most of the kids are between 10-15, but I guess they can be babysitters for the smaller kids;) Though I am staying sober so I can drive home, because it is usually hell getting a taxi on NYE and I can't be bothered with all the trouble with getting the car seat in the taxi etc. I can have fun without drinking... I did last year, so I will again this year.

Happy New Year everyone.

Guest Post

2011-12-25T16:11:00.002+01:00

Hi and Merry Christmas, hope you are enjoying the holidays!

Just wanted to let you know that today I have a guest post over at Vanisha's life in Australia. I "met" Vanisha through Krysten's "Must Have Summer Swap", and we have stayed in touch since. I hope that our friendship will continue to develop in the years to come.... and maybe even someday we will get to meet, I would love to go to Australia some day:)

I will be back to blogging in a few days:)

Christmas is only a few days away:)

2011-12-20T11:43:00.003+01:00

So are you ready for Christmas? I think we are about to be, still got a little grocery shopping to do, but my parents arrives on the 22nd so I guess I will have my mum to help out a little:)

Our tree isn't up yet, and it will probably be a few days before we get it up too. Because with Jonas rolling around and getting into everything... well it's just easier not having the tree up for all that long. But I have found the tree decorations, and this year I have made a few new ones. Sorry for the poor picture, but I think you will get the idea!

Jonas also wants to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Here is the picture we used for our Christmas cards, and every time he sees it he will be laughing out loud, which is so cute. Unfortunately when we got our Christmas cards developed they got really dark, but I didn't have time to order some new ones, so people had to make do with the dark picture.

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and don't know exactly when I will be back to blogging, since the next couple of days are pretty much booked. Enjoy the holidays:)

Cars...

2011-12-16T16:22:00.003+01:00

Are you guys getting tired of hearing about cars? Well we never got hold of the guy who we thought had sold us his car on Sunday. After I had calmed down a bit I started looking again.

I found one on 35 km from here, and got my father in law to go with me yesterday, so it wouldn't be sold before Frank would get home from work... but a picture might be worth a 1000 words, well then seeing it in real life was worth a million words... It was horrible, lots of dents (the picture only showed a smaller one) on the front I think he had hit a chicken or something there were loads of feathers, and yeah we decided right away it wasn't going to it. But since this time we had gone to a dealership there were other cars to look at.

The salesman asked if it was because I was in love with that brand of car, and I said no, but I think I am in love with the price of the car:) So he told me he would show me a Hyundai Accent. We went to take a look, I saw the price tag (which was almost twice as much as the first one), but before I even said anything he went down with 40%... my father in law took it for a test drive. Afterwards we talked to the salesman, and he told us that this deal would only last till Sunday, which was fine because then I could take Frank to see Saturday.

But after Frank saw it online, and talked to his dad we decided to get it... so tomorrow we are picking up my car:) I am so super excited, it's an older car, but I don't car, I will now be able to get around more. I will be able to do my grocery shopping during the day and not in the evening when Frank is home. So hopefully this will be the last you will have to hear about my complaining about not having a car:) Have a great weekend everyone.

Pissed off...

2011-12-14T09:56:00.002+01:00

I'm a little pissed off at the moment. Our car was suppose to be delivered on Monday evening, Monday evening the guy called, said he was missing some papers so he would deliver it on Tuesday evening instead.

But Tuesday came and went, and there is still no sight of either the guy or the car... and of course now the idiot doesn't answer his phone. I'm sure he has ripped us off (if you can call it that since he didn't get any money yet), and now he is screening his calls.

If he would just have called that he had sold it to someone else it would have been fair... well not fair, but I wouldn't have been this pissed, just a little pissed, and I wouldn't have had to spent my Tuesday evening waiting!

I'm just happy he didn't get any money yet, so I haven't really lost anything, but I had made plans for what I could get done before Christmas, and I could get everything done without having to spent my evenings and weekends shopping etc.

Sorry for the pissed off post, just had to get it out!

A weekend without plans...

2011-12-11T20:38:00.004+01:00

This weekend we didn't have any plans, so I decided that it was about time for me to get a new haircut... though it turned out my hairdresser is closed every Saturday until after New Year (which is the only day I can go without having to get a babysitter). So I took a chance and made an appointment at another hairdresser. I actually googled "hairdresser, Esbjerg, online booking", and I went with the first one, maybe a bit risky, but I need a change and couldn't wait till after New Year.

I got a haircut and a darker colour, and I really like it, and I think it will be easy for me to do every morning, which is probably the most important thing.

In the afternoon, a friend of ours called and asked if my husband wanted to come to a concert with a U2 coverband, since they had an extra ticket. After putting Jonas to bed I spent the evening on the sofa with a Christmas movie, and then afterwards "Walk the Line" the Johnny Cash movie was on... I really like that movie, but since I have seen it so many times I went to bed halfway through.

My "new" car, I think it's okay, it is for sure better walking or taking the bus:)

Today we went to take a look on a used car, so I will have a set of wheels as well. It was really cheap, it's from 1996 but it looked pretty good. Every 2 years cars in Denmark has to go through a mechanical check, and this one has just been through it, so hopefully we will have a car for the next 2 years. Though we won't get the car until tomorrow night, but I guess that will be okay.

So for a weekend without plans, I think we did pretty good:)

Recycling has never been this fun:)

2011-12-08T10:03:00.004+01:00

I must admit I am not good at recycling and saving our planet, but I found a way so save the planet from just a little bit of waste. I know I'm not the first one to do this, and I am probably not the last one either, but I had fun:)

You see, in our little household we drink quite a large amount of coffee, and we are enjoying every cup of it:)

But it also means we are using a lot of coffee beans, and they are packed in these plastic bags which I bet is not good for the environment.

So after having seen these purses everywhere I figured I would give it a try as well, and the result turned out fairly okay if I have to say it myself.

I had a few problems with the zipper, I guess I should have made the bag just a bit smaller or bought a longer zipper. But I bet with a little practice I will get better. So I now have people collecting bags for me, well mostly my parents, who have friends at their old workplace who are collecting bags for me, so I will be making more. It does take quite a few hours and bags making one purse, but I find it a bit relaxing, and will be cutting and folding bags while relaxing in front of the TV in the evening. Then it somehow doesn't feels like a complete waste of time being in front of the TV.

Who knows by this time next year I will be a pro and everyone will get something I made from coffee bags or chips bags... it would save my the hassle of Christmas shopping. I thought I finished up yesterday, and then this morning I got an e-mail that one of the books I ordered online last week couldn't be delivered! So have now put my faith to amazon.com and are hoping to get it here before Christmas, the things is that it is now more expensive than if I had bought it at Danish site, since the shipping from the USA cost more, the other was free... amazon then promises to deliver between the 21st and 24th of December, with my luck mine will be set to be delivered by December 24th which is the day we celebrate Christmas in Denmark and no mail will be delivered... if so my brother will have to do with a lousy t-shirt until it's delivered (he doesn't read my blog, so I can tell what I'm getting him).

Ohh this wasn't suppose to turn into a complaint, but it did, sorry. Have a nice day, and enjoy your coffee:)

Some busy days

2011-12-05T20:58:00.003+01:00

Okay I guess once again it went almost a week before I posted again, I don't really know what happened... well I kind of do.

On Thursday Jonas didn't sleep much during the day, and when he slept I tried to do a little cleaning, otherwise I spent my time entertaining Jonas. Friday was pretty much the same, but both of us were doing better so we did go to the baby swimming class.

Saturday we were hosting a small Christmas party for a few friends, so I spent most of the day cooking and getting ready for the party. We had a really great time, it was so much fun. We did drink quite a bit, that is usual for a Danish Christmas party, so Sunday I spent doing a little as possible. It was not that I was hungover, I was just really tired. So I spent a lot of the day laying on the floor with Jonas, he moved more that I did:)

Today I had to take the bus to meet with the girls from my midwife group. It was really nice to see them again, and we really enjoyed ourselves, but man a day passes by quick when you spent 30 minutes on a bus each way as well.

I'm not going to make any promises about when I will be blogging again, because I don't seem to be able to keep them:) Besides I should probably get around to writing my Christmas cards if I have to get them out before Christmas.

Have a great one:)

Christmas has entered our home

2011-11-30T10:55:00.006+01:00

First I want to thank you for the get well wishes for Jonas, he still has as cold and so do I now. This morning I ended up taking him to the doctor because I didn't like his coughing... thankfully nothing is wrong he just has a cold, and he has to drink a lot. But him having a cold means that he doesn't sleep much during the day, I am thankful that he sleeps during the night, but it also means it leaves me a lot less time for blogging, so that is why I haven't been around for a while.

Though being a little under the weather hasn't stopped Christmas from entering our home. So here is a few pictures. First my Advent candles, where we burn one every Sunday the last 4 Sundays before Christmas. Then my calender candle, where I am ready for the countdown for Christmas tomorrow. Those candles are something I remember from my childhood, and I think almost every home in Denmark will have one during December... and yeah I am into purple this Christmas. And just to make sure we get in the right mood I have found a few Christmas CD's... Jonas loves when we dances to "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus". I really enjoy being on leave during December, and even better I don't have to work between Christmas and New Year, I don't think that have happened since before I got my first after school job! Even though he might be sick, he is still a happy camper... at least most of the time, if you don't count the 1½ hour of screaming yesterday afternoon, and nothing helped... that is just one of those times you think "why did we decide to have a kid?", but when he smiles like this while waiting for his dinner, and you know why.

I hope I will not be this far between my next posts, but for now I have decided that today is my day off, so when Jonas is sleeping I will be doing nothing (and now I'm blogging, but hey that doesn't count:).

Happy weekend!

2011-11-25T12:19:00.002+01:00

Well I have been MIA this week, and this is going to be a short post, because Jonas kept me up most of the night. He has got a cold and is coughing and his nose is running... poor baby. He decided that the best place for him to sleep was on my tummy, which means not much sleep for me.

Just wanted to wish you all a happy weekend, and Happy belated Thanksgiving to the USA. Jonas is sleeping now, so I am also going to get some rest. Enjoy your weekend.

Bike rides

2011-11-21T09:41:00.003+01:00

Last week our neighbour gave us a bike seat for Jonas, they didn't need it any longer since their girls are big and in school. They also had a bike helmet so Jonas can be safe riding with us.

So yesterday Frank got the bike seat on my bike, and we took Jonas for a short ride down the road. He really enjoyed it, and if the bike doesn't have a flat tire tomorrow I will bike to meet the girls from my midwife group... so I really hope I don't have a flat tire, because if I do I will have to walk, and it's an hour walk each way.

Getting a bike seat for Jonas is making me more mobile, so I think we will be getting out a bit more, well depending on when the winter will arrive here!

Have a nice week everyone:)

I am watching way too much TV

2011-11-16T19:59:00.004+01:00

But hey when you are on maternity leave, and stuck at home without a car, well besides from cleaning and cooking there isn't much to do, and who wants to be cleaning and cooking? But I must admit the daytime TV here is not so much fun, you can only take a certain amount of Dr. Phil and According to Jim.

We have this extra channel that changes every month or so. It shows a channel that we don't have, and at the moment there is a channel that shows a lot of shows that I haven't seen before, which really beats watching Americas Next Top Model rerun for the 5th or 6th time.

So I am watching "The Cake Boss" and what can I say, those cakes are amazing. Though today

they dropped a sweet 16 cake down the stairs, and I must admit my heart skipped a few beats... yep that's how much I get caught up with a TV show:) They ended putting another cake together for Lexi in just 2 hours...

via

I wish Buddy and his team live a little closer... on the other hand I would be eating cake all the time, so probably a good thing he is so far away.

I am also watching "Jon & Kate + 8", which they are now called "Kate + 8" so I guess they split up... yeah I didn't see what happend, but with 8 kids I think I would be too scared to leave my husband!

Well that was just a bit of what was on my mind right now:)

Candy, Reading and Bingo

2011-11-13T19:25:00.004+01:00

This have been a weekend that consisted of a few different things. Yesterday while Jonas was napping I made our Christmas candy. I made 3 kinds of truffles, cornflakes tops and oatmeal balls rolled in coconut. 2 of the truffles contains marzipan which I don't like, as well as I don't like oatmeal and coconut... This is all with good reason, because making things I don't like I won't be eating it all before Christmas and I will not gain the weight... smart huh? And just to be sure that I'm not eating the ones I like I put them all in the fridge in the garage, I know I will be way too lazy to go out there to get them:) But if I have to say it myself the cornflakes tops and my nutella truffles are amazing... but before they all went to the fridge I did take a picture.

Starting with the one in blue wrapping and going left it is nougat and marzipan truffle, cornflake top, nutella truffle, oatmeal balls, and truffle of marzipan and dark chocolate.

After Jonas' nap we read the adds, to see if something good was on sale next week, or if there was something we needed to put on our Christmas wish list.

Today our Staff Association had arrange a bingo game for us at work. There we loads of prizes... like a 40 inch TV, an Ipad, a camera, packages of books, a bike... name it and we could win it. The thing is I am hardly ever lucky at bingo, but it is usually really fun. There consolation prizes for the one sitting next to winners, so I got candy, chips and a knife sharpner (not bad at all). In the end they pulled numbers out of a hat for the rest of the prizes and I won a small trimmer for bushes and grass. So I guess I was luckier than last time where I ended up with a bottle of wine. I must say I was really impressed with all their work, and had a really fun afternoon.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that the week ahead will be a good one:)

Is it really Friday again?

2011-11-11T19:22:00.003+01:00

This week has gone so fast, I can't believe it's Friday again. I haven't had time to blog, and hardly had time to read blogs... and honestly I don't feel like I have been all that busy.

It has been a week of a couple of "firsts" for Jonas. Monday he had his first haircut, he could use a little trim, so when Frank had an appointment at the hairdresser Jonas and I tagged along, and luckily she had time to trim Jonas' hair as well. Though it didn't take long, but probably for the best because he had a hard time sitting still.

On Tuesday he had his first dentist appointment... at 8 months, honestly do they really think they will get babies to willingly open their mouth at that age? In Denmark going to the dentist is free until you turn 18, so they call you in about once a year, unless you got braces. I guess the first time is when you are 8 months, but she tried to show us how to brush his teeth etc. And it all went pretty well.

Yesterday I had invited my brother for a concert with an Danish artist. It's not because he is a really good singer, but the lyrics are quite entertaining. This was a solo concert, I have been to concerts with him before, both solo and with a band. He simply is better solo than with band, mostly because of the stories he tells in between songs. Ahead of time we had dinner at the a restaurant, the food was okay the service was just lousy yesterday, it usually isn't. We waited 40 minutes from ordering our food to getting it... good thing Frank and Jonas came along, because then we started a bit earlier than we would have if it was just me and my brother. We came 2 hours before the concert started, and that turned out to be a good thing, because we just made it to the concert 10 minutes before starting, since we also had to wait for ages to pay. Though we did get a free beer due to the wait...

After the concert we went out for a beer before heading home. But I must say that today I am really tired, so I think I will be going to bed early tonight. Right now I am just relaxing on the couch, Jonas is asleep and Frank went to see a soccer game at a friends house... so now it's quiet time.

Have a nice weekend everyone:)

A nice weekend:)

2011-11-07T10:18:00.003+01:00

We had a nice, relaxing weekend. It seems like after knowing that Frank has a job from November 14th, well we just seemed to be able to enjoy his time off a bit more. Friday night Frank went to see our local soccer team play their last home game for the season, and they won 4-1 and are currently number 1, though that is not too impressive since last year they were last and had to go to another league, but hopefully next year they will be back in the best league again:)

Saturday was a relaxing day, not doing much. In the evening a friend of ours stopped by, and we watched the Danish Music Awards... I must admit I didn't know a lot of those new Danish artists, well then I heard some of the songs I had heard them before, but I had no idea who was singing them... I guess I don't listen much to the radio anylonger! But it was a great show, and the 2 guys hosting it was the best!

Sunday we went to visit and friend of mine from Kindergarten and her husband. They had prepared the best lunch... we had tapas and I couldn't stop eating, so I ended up skipping my dinner last night:) We had a really nice time, and got to catch up again, we haven't seen each other since our Survivor party in August.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend, and have a great week:)

A Happy Day!

2011-11-03T15:14:00.002+01:00

Today is a happy day... Frank got a called around noon, and on November 14th he is starting a new job:)

Last Tuesday someone called him in for a interview, it all went by really fast. He got the phone call in the afternoon, had the interview in the evening, got a contract which said he had a job by November 1st but only if the company got this big order from a windmill company. I decided not to blog about it this time, so that I wouldn't jinx it (I'm not superstitious, but I figured it was worth a try). Then Friday he got a call, the company didn't get the big order, so he couldn't offer him a job! Then this Tuesday evening another company called and asked if they could send his CV to windmill company, because they were bidding on a job. Yesterday the company from last week called, and said they were bidding on a job again, and if Frank was still interested, they would like to have him. Though none of the places would hear anything before sometime next week. Then today the company from last week called and said they had a job for him no matter what, they didn't want to loose him:)

So now the contract is signed, and we can relax for the next 1½ week, before Frank starts work. The best thing is that it was the job he wanted the most he got, so today is a really good day. So we celebrated by going out for lunch.

Have a great early weekend everyone:)

Happy Halloween...

2011-10-31T19:08:00.003+01:00

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...

2011-10-27T21:36:00.002+02:00

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...

2011-10-24T19:45:00.006+02:00

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...

2011-10-21T11:10:00.003+02:00

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

2011-10-17T09:04:00.004+02:00

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...

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-10T13:53:00.002+02:00

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!

2011-10-08T09:12:00.004+02:00

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:)

2011-10-05T14:40:00.003+02:00

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

2011-10-03T09:25:00.002+02:00

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!

Coffee is my friend...

2011-09-29T10:28:00.003+02:00

This week has been busy and a bit exhausting this far, but also a lot of fun... but coffee has saved me this week!

Monday I was meeting up with the girls from my midwife group, and the walk there only took 45 minutes, and the weather was great, so I really enjoy it. On the way back Jonas was awake, which made the trip even better, wouldn't you just love the company of this little guy?

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture... I guess that is why I never take photos with my phone!

I was really nice meeting up with the girls again, and it's fun to follow their kids too, and see how big they are getting.

Tuesday I was hosting a kids clothes party in the evening, so I spent the day baking and cleaning. Though a lot of the people I had invited ended up not showing, there were a lot of lousy excuses, and a few real ones. But honestly when people know so far in advance, and say they will come, how come they change their minds a day or two before? Any ways the ones who showed seemed to enjoy themselves, and we did get to buy new clothes for our kids. It was one of my former colleagues who had started selling clothes in her spare time, so I also got to see her again:)

Yesterday I was meeting up with the girls from my mother group, which again was a 45 minutes walk each way, so I have really got some walking in this week... but I have also been eating cake...

So today I'm really happy that I don't have any plans, so now that Jonas is napping, I'm just relaxing with my good friend... mr. coffee:) and getting a bit of laundry done!

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 10

2011-09-26T08:29:00.002+02:00

So it's Monday again, and let's jump on the scale!

Last weeks weight: 79,9 kg

This weeks weight: 79,0 kg

Loss/gain: -0,9 kg

Well surprise, surprise I almost lost a whole kilo. I didn't expect that, because the long walk on Tuesday was cancelled, I'm meeting with the girls from my midwives group today instead, so the long walk will be in a few hours. On Wednesday I ate a lot of cake at my neighbours birthday brunch. And the night between Friday and Saturday Jonas thought he should have a 2 hour party in the middle of the night... which resulted in a pretty tired mummy on Saturday, which means a weak mum who goes grocery shopping, well I ended up with cookies... so I honestly thought that I would only have lost 0,1-0,3 kg, so a 0,9 kg is pretty good:)

I will probably not reach my goal of 74 kg in 2 weeks, but I think this will be better, loosing the weight slow, then hopefully it will stay off, instead of being really strict with my diet, and as soon as I go of it, well the weight will magically appear again. So I guess slow and steady wins the race:)

Have a great week everyone!

Fill In The Blank Friday

2011-09-23T10:51:00.005+02:00

It's been a while since I participated in Lauren's fill in the blank, but with a lack of something to write about, I figured I would give it a go this week:)

1. The best thing I did all week was attending my neighbours birthday on Wednesday. There was a big brunch and lots of cake... it will probably not be the best thing on Monday when I jump on the scale again, but I enjoyed the day:)

2. Seeing Jonas smile and hearing him laugh makes me super happy.

3. Pets are great, especially Gustav the cat, who for some reason know he should be nice to Jonas, even when he pulls his tail... I'm sure if I did that Gustav would be pissed, but when Jonas does it, he looks at him and walk away... I guess Gustav is smarter than he looks:)

4. My family is the best thing about my life.

5. With cooler weather I'm looking forward to what cooler weather? The whole summer has been cool.

6. Something that is on my "wish-list" right now is for my husband to get a job... because then I can justify getting some new clothes that is on my wishlist:)

7. This weekend I'm going to do absolutely nothing, well I don't have any plans yet, besides baby swimming class tonight, but we are probably going to visit some friends.

You can link up to Laurens fill in the blank right here.

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 9

2011-09-19T08:30:00.003+02:00

Okay, I was seriously considering telling you that I had forgot to jump on the scale this morning, and I was considering abandoning this challenge all together, with the excuse that I can almost fit all my pre pregnancy clothes now (which isn't true, but you guys wouldn't know that).

I was dreading the scale a lot this morning, because I didn't get a lot of walking done this week, I had cake yesterday because my parents were here to visit, and to top it off we ordered pizza last night, because I just couldn't be bothered making dinner.

So here we go, again after gaining last week, I was really fearing it this week!

Last weeks weight: 80,3 kg

This weeks weight: 79,9 kg

Loss/gain: -0,4 kg

This really blew me away! Not only did I loose weight when I was thinking I had gained, I am also below 80 kg now, not much below, but I'm under and hopefully I will stay under 80 kg:)

Tomorrow I have a long walk planned, because I'm meeting with the girls from my midwife group, and we are meeting at one of the girls who lives an hour walk away from me, so a 2 hour walk is waiting tomorrow, though there might be a little cake too:) On Wednesday I will have to try and motivate myself for a walk in the afternoon, since I'm going to breakfast/brunch at the my neighbour who is turning 30, so there might be cake too! Though by Thursday I should not have more cake for the rest of the week, but you never know:)

On another note, your good vibes might be paying of... my husband is at his 3rd interview today, though it is at the place furtherest away, the other 2 interviews he is still waiting to hear from, but that was on Thursday, and let's face it Friday there isn't much happening, because the weekend is so close... so if you could please just send a few more good vibes this way, please:)

Have a great week everyone:)

Election Day!

2011-09-15T13:03:00.004+02:00

3 weeks ago they set the date of today for the Danish population to go voting! Ever since they have all been campaigning, and I must admit it feels more like 3 months than 3 weeks.

So today I went to vote, and are really glad it's almost over. Though our prime minister might not be the same after today... which I'm not super happy about. Our parliament consists of 179 members, and the one who in the end will have 90 members or more pointing to them for prime minister will get "the job". Which is fair and very democratic, but the polls are right now pointing to the "wrong" side if you ask me, but it's so close that they are talking about it might come down to the 4 members from Greenland and Faeroe Islands (2 from each).

Election 2011 via

Right now there are 9 parties in the parliament, and just a little more than 50% point to the blue block (we got block policy in Denmark) which is the liberals, but after today the majority might be in the red block (the democrats)...

The thing is the woman the red block is pointing to be the prime minister (which means the first female prime minister in Denmark) well she doesn't exactly act like a democrat. She says people have to support the public school system and put their kids in public school, all while her kids are in private schools. And there has been several stories about her not paying her tax, because her husband is British and is not the Denmark most of the time, well a bit complicated to explain. So as cool as I think it would be with a female prime minister, well I just hope it's not going to be her and not now... and I know there is stories about the liberal leader as well, that's another reason I'm happy election day is here, because the dirt tossing will be over for a while then:)

Bye Bye Babyweight, Week 8

2011-09-12T13:54:00.003+02:00

Well this week I shouldn't call it bye bye, more like hello birthday weight! Here is the truth!

Last weeks weight: 80,0 kg

This weeks weight: 80,3 kg

Loss/gain: +0,3 kg

And I blame my sister in law:) She invited us for her boyfriends birthday yesterday, and she had been baking all day, so 4 different homebaked goodies were on the table... and I have good manners, so of course I had to taste everything! So I guess I blame my parents too for raising me with good manners:) But you know what, it tasted delicious!

But honestly, I don't really care that I failed big time this week, because on the job front it looks even better for my husband now. He has yet another interview on Thursday, so 3 interviews within a week... hopefully that will land him a job. So I'm just too happy about this that a small gain can't bring me down... I guess I just have to work harder and eat less the coming week.

I did actually manage to fit in 2 long walks (1 hour) and a short one (30 minutes) last week, I wish I could do so again this week, but I'm not sure because the weather is really bad at the moment, so maybe I should bring out the Wii again!

Have a great week everyone, and keep your fingers crossed for my husband to land a job:)

Good Vibes, please!

2011-09-09T21:57:00.002+02:00

Please send good vibes our way during the next week or so... my husband didn't the get the last job he interviewed for, I guess you had all ready figured that since I hadn't mentioned anything about it.

Anyways he has 2 interviews the coming week! One on Monday, which is a second interview, though that one is really far away, so he will have an even longer drive than he does now. The other one is on Thursday and is right here in town, only 5-10 minutes drive from home, so that would be perfect. And to top it all of... a guy called today, he had seen my husbands CV online, and asked him to send him an application letter! Though that is a bit far away as well, but he can take the highway there so it won't take as long as the first one, which is only smaller roads, which means more traffic!

So I hope the coming week will land him a job, even if it's further away, I will be really happy if he gets a job... because let's face it by October 1st he doesn't have a job, and my maternity leave salary isn't really much.... we will manage, but it won't be much fun. So please keep your fingers crossed that he gets one of the jobs, preferably the one here in town:)

Why not to watch "Desperate Housewives" with men...

2011-09-08T09:00:00.007+02:00

We visited some friends last night, and Wednesday night is "Desperate Housewives" night here, that is a show I don't want to miss, and the friends we visited, well she feels the same way... but our husbands don't!

Well we are probably a bit behind compared to the USA, but last nights episode Gabrielle had to explain to Carlos why she spent $800 at a doll shop... my friends husband say "isn't he blind?", what do you think, he is reading the bank statement? Yeah I'm pretty sure he isn't... he goes on "but he used to be blind, didn't he?" yeah he used to be blind... like 3 or 4 seasons ago, get in the game! A little later he asks why she cares so much for the doll, and you try to explain the whole Juanita vs. Grace situation, while trying to keep up with this new episode... after having explained it he says "I don't get it!" to which his wife says "Well do you really care?".

via

I now know why I used to ban my husband from the living room an hour on Wednesday nights... though now my challenge is usually to get Jonas to sleep before the show comes on, otherwise he is not my child for that hour on Wednesday night, that hour is mom's time:) And well just in case I have started to record it, so I can always watch it again later:)

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 7

2011-09-05T09:08:00.003+02:00

Monday again, so let's just get to it!

Last weeks weight: 80,2 kg

This weeks weight: 80,0 kg

Gain/loss: -0,2 kg

Okay not the biggest loss, but I must admit I didn't really watch what I was eating this week, I have been eating cake, candy etc. so a little weight loss is definitely okay:) Before falling asleep last night I was trying to convince myself that no matter what it had been a good week, because you know what? I can now fit into my pre pregnancy jeans! YEAH!!! Okay not completely comfortably the first day, the thing about jeans is they stretch as you wear them, and right now they fit best on day 2 or 3, so a few more kilos will be good, but nonetheless they fit!

I had 2 long walk last week, on Tuesday I was meeting with my midwife group of girls, and walked there and back which was almost an hour each way... so since I had walked there I convinced myself it was okay to have piece of the chocolate cake:) Wednesday I met up with my mothers group, which was 40 minutes walk there and 30 minutes back! How did that happen? Well Jonas was really tired so I left a bit earlier than I was suppose to, so he could fall asleep in the pram, and took another road than I usually do... and well it was a bit longer and I got a bit lost... well not really lost, just ended up the wrong place first!

This week the mothers group is coming here, so I have no walks planned, but I will try to do some by myself, even though I'm not going anywhere! And I will try to watch a bit more what I am eating... though Sunday I will have cake, because we are going to my sister in laws boyfriends birthday.

Have a great week everyone:)

Liebster Award

2011-09-02T23:26:00.000+02:00

Vanisha has awarded me the Liebster Award, I got to "know" Vanisha when Krysten paired us up in her Summer Must Haves Swap, and ever since I have enjoyed reading about Vanisha's life in Fiji, which will soon be back in Australia, because at this moment she is busy packing up her apartment to move back to Australia.

Liebster means dear, sweet, darling, beloved in German.

The aim is to bring more attention to blog with fewer than 200 followers, that people think deserve some additional attention.

There is a few rules in accepting the award:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. Thank you very much Vanisha

2. Reveal you top 5 picks, and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog

The 5 I will pass the award on to is:

Kattrina at 365 days of happiness she is an American girl married to her Honduran husband, I love reading her blog, which is about finding the joy in everyday life, but also because she live close the Washington DC, which was near where I live during my year as an Au Pair.

Rebekah at Adventures of The Childlike Empress, she is a Scottish ballerina who first danced in Ljubljana and are now dancing at the ballet in Cairo, Egypt. During the big riot in Cairo I thought of her many times while I watched the news... it's funny how you can relate to people you never met in real life, and while watching the news I couldn't help but wonder if she was safe.

Carrie at Living It Up in U.P. I started reading her blog when she was doing her Wedding Wednesday post, can you believe she had her reception at the Space Needle in Seattle? At the moment I'm enjoying reading her post from her vacation in several big cities in Europe.

Alicia at Sweet-a-Licious who just recently started her own baking business, she makes the most amazing cakes, and I'm both happy and sad that it's so far away, I would love to have her make cakes for me, but honestly if it was too close by I would not be loosing any weight at all! She used to have another blog, on that blog she used to do a "Move it to loose it" series where she was loosing weight after giving birth, and I must say she had a bigger backbone than I have, and she lost weight!

Erin at Pugh's News who lives in Canada, she is the mother of 2 wonderful boys, and I love reading about her every day life. Every Friday she does a series called "Flowers for your Friday" which always puts a smile on my face.

That should be it, you should go check out their blogs, you will find some good reads:)

You know you are a mum, when...

2011-08-31T21:24:00.004+02:00

you catch yourself singing childrens songs when your kid is nowhere around...

This is how we like to spent Sunday afternoon... well maybe tomorrow afternoon:)

Last night I stopped myself halfway through one of the songs we sing for Jonas only to brush my teeth (Jonas had been asleep for a few hours...) honestly I should start listening more to the radio than then few childrens CDs we have. I doubt Jonas really cares what we are singing, as long as we are singing to him!

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 6

2011-08-29T09:25:00.004+02:00

Monday = Time to jump on the scale!

So let's just get right to it:

Last weeks weight: 81,4 kg

This weeks weight: 80,2 kg

Loss/gain: -1,2 kg

Finally I get some action! I'm ready for another week!

I'm totally okay with this weeks result, since on Thursday I went to the movies, and you can't go to the movies without candy, well at least I can't. Friday was my brothers house warming party, but since we had decided to drive home instead of spentdng the night I guess I didn't drink much alcohol, and Saturday night we had a block party, which meant quite a bit of alcohol... I was asked if I was on any medicine this year, because last year I hadn't told people that I was pregnant at the time of the block party so I said I was on some medicine that didn't mix well with alcohol, because I had got sick from all the ac mixed with warm weather and a long flight home from our vacation! So this year I wasn't on any "medicine", so I got quite a bit of wine etc. Which I doubt is good on any diet.

But this week and the coming weekend we don't have any parties to attend, so hopefully that means I can eat a bit more healthy and no alcohol to mess things up. Besides that I have too long walks planned (that is the great thing about only having 1 car), so tomorrow I'm meeting with the girls from my midwives group, and it takes about 50 minutes each way to walk to her house, but it will be good exercise, I'm just hoping it won't be raining that bad tomorrow, otherwise I will have to dig out my rain wear! On Wednesday I'm meeting with the other mothers group, but that is only 30 minutes walk each way, but still some exercise:)

Otherwise I'll try to eat healthier, but I'm skipping the diet shakes for now, but I have them if I need an easy meal at some point, but after a while they get boring. But this being week 6 means I'm halfway through... but not halfway through my weight loss, I lost 2,6 kg since I started, but still have 6,2 kg left to go... I'm not sure I get there at the end of my challenge, but if I'm just getting the right direction I will be okay with it, and I will be super happy being under 80 kg again, which hopefully will be next week, but then again I have also pulled some small numbers, so I might not be until week 8 I will be under 80 kg.

This and that

2011-08-24T10:34:00.006+02:00

Well this will be a post about a little of this and that...

Friday Jonas started his baby swimming class, and he really enjoyed it, and so did we:) People often talk about how you feel lighter in water... well I have never really thought of it, then again I didn't really go swimming during my pregnancy (which probably the time I would really have felt lighter in water), but after having been in the water and going up the stairs with Jonas on my arm, well he suddenly felt really heavy. Well I did actually go swimming when I was almost 6 months pregnant, when we went to Punta Cana, but I guess since I had a really easy pregnancy I didn't feel much of a difference to whether I was in the water or not... except from when I had to get out of the water, I had to use the stairs I couldn't just jump up the side of the pool:)

Speaking of Punta Cana, we went there to attend the wedding of this cute couple...

and just the other day I got a e-mail from her, and guess what? She is pregnant:) And the funny thing about it... she is due on Jonas' first birthday! But I know better than anyone, that the due date is not necessarily the date you give birth, but it's still a bit fun:)

As mentioned before this Monday my Mum turned 70, and we celebrated her birthday on Saturday. The brass band I used to play in wanted to come a surprise her, which was really fun. I went in first with my horn, and said that I hadn't prepared a speech, but I wanted to play a song instead... the look on my mums face was priceless. She tried to look like she was really happy about it, but you could see she was thinking "is she really going to do this, and will that be any good?" thanks mum! Well then I said, "no not by myself, I brought along some friends" and the rest of the band came in, and she seemed to relax a bit... did she really think I would play solo? and if I did, did she really think I would be that bad, so I would embarrass myself?

Well I guess that will be it, enjoy the rest of the week:)

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 5

2011-08-22T13:01:00.003+02:00

Hmmm... another Monday, another time on the scale! Let's just get right to it!

Last weeks weight: 81,5 kg

This weeks weight: 81,4 kg

Gain/loss: -0,1 kg

Honestly what the h... is happening here? Why can't I loose the weight? I was drinking diet shakes Monday-Friday instead of eating breakfast and lunch, they don't taste very good and I feel really hungry and I guess I threw it all away during the weekend! Yeah we went to my mums birthday (which by the way is today, Happy 70th birthday Mum), we went to brunch, and I tried to convince myself that I didn't eat all that much... but let's be honest if you aren't really hungry at dinnertime, well then you ate plenty at brunch, and that didn't keep me from eating a lot for dinner anyways....

Besides I only got around to use the wii once last week, I guess it took a few days for me to get over the Survivor Party. So when I turned on the Wii My Fitness Coach on Thursday the bitch told me "long time no see, you were suppose to have been here on Tuesday"... hey this is a game, you're not suppose to make me feel guilty! But the Wii Zumba, well I don't really have the rhythm for it, and the Wii Fit doesn't really allow you to make a program, so at the moment I guess I have to stick with the bitch at My Fitness Coach:)

But this week I will again replace my breakfast and lunch with a diet shake, and since we have my brothers housewarming party on Friday and a block party on Saturday, I guess I will have to try and eat less, and go for the healthy choices... and plan something for dinner on Sunday, so we won't end up picking up Burger King like last night (yeah I know that was probably also a part of the low weight loss this week). I will also try to meet up with "My Fitness Coach" twice this week, I don't want her to tell me off once again. My walk with another mum has been cancelled this week, since we are going to the movies on Thursday instead (once a month they have "take your baby to the movies- day, where they set up changing stations, bottle heaters, lower the sound and accept crying babies), but instead I actually walked to pick up groceries today, it took me 30 minutes each way, and with the sun shining it was a really nice walk:)

Hoping this will be a good week to loose some weight, and just looking forward to getting past the next weekend, because then we don't have a lot of plans for a couple of weekends, which mean I can probably eat a bit healthier during the weekend as well:)

Survivor Party 2011

2011-08-17T21:35:00.016+02:00

This Saturday we had our annual Survivor Party, and we were so lucky with the weather, it was probably the only day with sunshine and hardly any rain in the last 2 weeks. Ahead of time the two teams usually get an assignment, and the winner will get the brunch and loosers will have cornflakes. This year their assignment was to find a leader on each team, and dress up the leader. The red team chose to dress one of the guys up as a female politician from the labour party. On his purse and boots they had written Gucci, which was a big story years ago because journalist didn't think she related to her voters. The red team should have won, but then again last year the blue team should have won... but due to me being pregnant we had another fun way telling them, and the red team won last year, so this year we named the blue team the winners.

The red team eating their cornflakes and oatmeal... they were definitely not satisfied, but that is part of the game:)
The blue team got brunch with eggs, bacon, pancakes etc. It's funny how people can get mean when it get to this... all couples are split up, so if the wife is on the red team her husband will be on the blue team. So one guy on the blue team yell to his wife "aren't you mad we didn't eat at home..."

Well after breakfast in was on to the games. We had found a lot of inspiration from the show "A minute to win it" which Meghan recommended, after she told me about it and I found some games... well then they started talking about it coming on Danish TV this fall... This game they had to hoist an m&m laying on 2 pencils, by pulling yarn behind their ears.

Here they had to transport empty beercans from one chair to another using a spaghetti... the red team lost again... they couldn't stop laughing, so they couldn't get the spaghetti through the hole.

The blue team was quite fast at getting the hang of it, maybe the blue hair helped.

The red team all had wigs or hats, the rest of the team got tired of my brother not hearing what they said and thought it was because his wig was in his ears to they gave him a haircut... they said he always wanted a mohawk, so he got one:)

Well Jonas has a "nice" uncle who thought he should try his hair... doesn't he look just a little cute?

One of the games they had to walk on stilts... again the red team lost, on the picture the blue team is all ready on their way back...

They also played soccer with "binoculars" made from empty toilet rolls, I think it was more fun to watch than play, but that was one of the few games the red team won.

Here they had to move cotton with their face... no use of the hands, well except to put vaseline on their faces, also a game that was more fun to watch that play I guess...

Between games it was time for drinking and having fun... and well I don't know if the red team should have chosen this guy as their leader instead... he got pretty drunk during the day, and ended up switching clothes with one of the girls...

The winning team with their champagne...

The losing team... but honestly if you didn't see the champagne doesn't the red team look like they won? I definitely think they were drinking more and maybe having more fun... at least they did more crazy things...

I just love these parties... and I think the reason so many of our friends love them as well is that once a year they get to behave like kids and play games... and just be foolish.

I am all ready looking forward to next year, and have a few games planned all ready:)

Bye, Bye Babyweight, week 4

2011-08-15T09:20:00.001+02:00

Monday again, and last week my goal was just not to gain weight this week. During the week I did manage to use the wii twice, I did the 1 hour walk with another mum and I did eat a few m&m's this weekend during our survivor party, but otherwise I didn't eat candy, but I did eat cake and chips, and unhealthy food. So if we had not had the party I think I would have done pretty well, but the party was so much fun, I will post pictures later this week:)

Back to the scale:
Last weeks weight: 81,6 kg

This weeks weight: 81,5 kg

Loss/gain: -0,1 kg

Only a small loss, but at least I didn't gain any, and this week I'm ready for revenge:)

I have bought these diet shakes, and have decided not to follow it completely, because I love my food and I could not live of those only. So I have decided that Monday-Friday this week I will replace my breakfast and lunch with these shakes, and if I feel like more I will eat fruit. Our dinner will still be real food... I bet Frank would be a little pissed if I served him a diet shake for dinner!

I will try to use the wii twice again this week, and I will be going for a walk with one of the other mums as well and Friday Jonas will start his swimming classes... though I don't think that will count as exercise, just humiliation by having to get in a swimming suit!

On Saturday we are going to my parents place to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday (though that isn't until Monday), and instead of a big party she has invited all the guests for brunch at a little inn nearby their house... so no way I will replace my breakfast and lunch with a shake during the weekend:)

Have a great week everyone!

I thought I was stubborn!

2011-08-11T19:17:00.003+02:00

Here I thought I was stubborn, but someone is more stubborn than me, and that is Jonas... this is what he looks like when he doesn't want to eat, and I want him to eat... in the end I gave up, I probably got about 3 spoonfuls in his mouth... which is about the same amount in his hair, a couple of spoonfuls in his ears etc.

Yep his is stubborn, wonder where he got that from, because I still have it:)

Enjoy your weekend.

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 3

2011-08-08T10:17:00.002+02:00

So it's Monday, and time to jump on the scale! This week started out really great, I did the zumba, ate healthy, ate no candy or cake (and best of all didn't really have the urge for it either). But then came Thursday afternoon... Thursday morning I took Jonas to his 5 months check up, and the vaccination gave him a fever and made him fuzzy, which meant he didn't really want to sleep... and he didn't sleep at night time either, which meant no sleep for his mommy! So Friday I needed sugar to keep going and I ate cake. Losing one nights of sleep just takes me a few days to catch up on (I'm really bad at sleeping during the day), so I didn't eat healthy and I had chips and cake, no candy though. The lack of energy also caused me not going to the gym, but it did manage to push in an extra zumba workout on the wii, Jonas likes to watch me jump around, I'm just glad he has no words yet:)

So to the truth:
Last weeks weight: 81,7 kg

This weeks weight: 81,6 kg

Loss/gain: -0,1 kg

At least it's a loss, which is more than what I expected after the end of this week.

My goals this week is again to eat no candy (I am actually able to do this:))

2 workouts on the wii (I will not be going to the gym this week, since we have the Survivor party coming on Saturday, which will mean some alcohol and unhealthy eating, I might try to keep it to a minimum... as if I could do that)

1 hour of walking with the pram (I'm meeting with my mommy group, and we meeting 30 minutes walk from here, so we will walk on Wednesday)

So as long as I won't gain weight this week I'll be happy. Have any of you ever tried any of those weight loss products where you replace a meal by a shake? I don't know if I should try it, but I really love my food... and I doubt those shakes tastes very well!

And please keep you fingers crossed for great weather on Saturday, I would love for it to be nice and sunny though right now it seems like I should just be happy with no rain. Though it changes depending on which website we check!

Survivor

2011-08-03T09:55:00.003+02:00

So I'm busy planning our annual survivor party, do you remember last year? The party is next Saturday, and I still have quite a bit to do, but most of it is the fun things!

Trying to make fire using a power steel

I can't really tell you much about the games yet, because I know one of my friends check my blog every once in a while, I think mostly to see if there is pictures of Jonas that I haven't put on facebook. But I can tell you that I took some of your advice to finding party games back when I asked for help.

Summer has finally arrived here, but honestly almost too warm (I know I shouldn't be complaining), Jonas has a hard time sleeping when it's too warm, but by then end of the week it should be a bit cooler.

Ohh and keep your fingers crossed, my husband has been called in for a job interview tomorrow, so hopefully he will get it, and we will not have to be completely poor in a few months:)

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 2

2011-08-01T10:14:00.003+02:00

Well it's Monday again, and time to jump on the scale... I was really fearing it this week! I'm really proud of myself for hardly eating any candy, I had a few pieces of licorice on Monday night, and a few winegums on Friday, I didn't eat any cake at all this week... but we did eat out quite a bit this week, and that is not good for eating smaller portions, because if it's on the plate, well then I'm really bad at leaving it there...

I did manage to go to the gym twice this week, but after eating out so much, I didn't think I would have done much good. So I was dreading my meeting with the scale this morning, and if it wasn't because Jonas wanted to get up, when I might have stayed in bed to avoid the scale:)

Here we go, the truth told by my scale!

Last weeks weight: 82,7 kg

This weeks weight: 81,7 kg

Loss/gain: -1,0 kg

Yeah... I lost a whole kilo! I think this will motivate me to eat less candy and cake again this week:) I will also try to go to the gym, but since Frank started working again this week, I will probably only manage to go once. But I will try to do a Zumba fitness workout on the wii during Jonas' naptime.

So this week I'm definitely even more motivated to keep going, and hopefully soon the babyweight will be gone!

Attached...

2011-07-29T13:21:00.003+02:00

For almost 5 months Jonas and I have pretty much been attached to each other, everywhere I go he goes, and if he is not with me he is with his daddy. But not today... this morning we dropped him of at my husbands sister so she could babysit for a few hours while we went to Germany to do a little shopping (beer and sodas are a lot cheaper there, and our Survivor party is coming up). Since Jonas don't have a passport yet, he couldn't go, so he stayed with Auntie Tina and her boyfriend.

We tried to take a passport photo of Jonas so we can get his passport, which for sure aren't easy, but we have few funny pictures, I think he was about to sneeze in this one:)

We hadn't been driving for more than 15-20 minutes, before both of us had turned our head to check the car seat... but there was no baby, that was a bit weird. We have gotten so used to having him with us, that it felt so strange to be alone!

He had behaved nice most of the time, except when he pulled the hair of her guinea pig, Elvis:) He had become a bit tired, but with a little help from the stroller he is easy to get to sleep, so they had enjoyed babysitting him, and offered to do it again, so I guess they weren't too scared. Though Jonas was happy to see us again, I was getting big hugs and he cuddled in my arms when I picked him up, so I guess he miss us as much as we missed him:)

It 's funny how your life can change so much in a few short months, but I love my "new" life!

Bye Bye Babyweight, week 1

2011-07-25T13:30:00.000+02:00

So the first week of my weight loss challenge is over, and what can I say.... the no candy rule, well I can't do that until I grow a backbone... though I have been eaten less candy than usual, and every time I took a piece I had a nagging thought not to do it, so I guess that is a step in the right direction! I didn't write no cake, no chips etc. and I only had cake once, that was then I met up with the girls from my midwife group, but it had carrots on top, so I guess it was kind of healthy:) I had some chips Friday night, not much, a little Saturday night as well when I was at a work party. Ohh I guess I had cake twice, but who can say no to a brownie for dessert? And then on Sunday, well I wasn't hungover, but I was tired as h... and well the chips was sitting on the counter calling my name... but I was watching the Tour De France... so someone was working out, does that count?

I did manage to go to the gym twice last week, and I felt amazing afterwards. I have been sweating a whole lot, but it's really not as bad going to the gym as I remember, so I'm still motivated to keep working out.

I have also been eating more fruits and vegetables than I'm usually doing, and I have been eaten smaller portions, so that is a bit in the right direction as well.

But here is the truth told by my scale!

Last weeks weight: 82,8 kg

This week weight: 82,7 kg

Loss/Gain: -0,1 kg

Which really sucks... so I guess I have to try even harder this week!

My goal for the next week is:

Going to the gym twice (my husband is home this week too, but we have a lot to get done, so I hope I will get to go twice)

Again eat smaller portions

Try once again to cut out candy, though that one is sooo hard

So hopefully this week will go a bit better, I haven't lost my motivation yet, but the weight better start coming off soon, otherwise I might not be able to motivate myself!

What happened?

2011-07-23T11:32:00.004+02:00

I'm lost for words...

What the h... happened in Norway?

I keep watching the news, but I can't believe it!

Suddenly it's so close by... it's scary!

My heart goes out to the families affected by the shooting!

He must be one sick person!

Grateful

2011-07-22T12:19:00.003+02:00

Inspired by Kim who usually does a post on Fridays of things she is grateful for this week, well this week she hasn't made one, but I am going to:)

My husband having vacation (he has been home for 2 weeks, and has one week left)

Our friends, one of them have help a lot relaying our driveway this week

Spending time with the girls from my midwife group

Jonas being a big boy sleeping in his own room and sleeping through the night

Getting better sleep after Jonas moved into his own room

Jonas getting his 3rd tooth and not being fuzzy about it

Having friends over for dinner tonight

Going to a party with my colleagues tomorrow night

Getting to the gym for the first time since October!

Well that is just a few things I'm grateful for this week! Have a great weekend everyone:)

Bye, Bye Babyweight!

2011-07-18T09:40:00.000+02:00

Well it's now 4½ months since I gave birth, and well the weight haven't come of yet... everyone told it would come of easy while breastfeeding, which was true the first week or two, because I kept eating and I lost weight... but after a few weeks I still ate, but the weight was no longer coming of! I believe the weight only came off the first few weeks because my body was recovering from giving birth.

So now it's time to get into shape again, I want to get back to my pre pregnancy weight, not that I know exactly what that was, but I do know my ass and my waist is bigger now than before, because I can still not fit into my favorite pair of jeans....

This is the only "before" photo you will get, that is from the day before giving birth, I can't believe I was that big!
The thing is this whole dieting thing has never been my strong side, every time I can keep the diet a few days, and then I tell myself that no one knows that I have failed, so I start again another time... so this time I need you guys to keep my at the game... I figured if I posted my weight here, and made a challenge out of it, posting my progress (well hopefully there will be a progress) every week for the next 12 weeks, well then someone will know if I fail... and I think that might be enough to motivate me:)

But then comes the hard part, I will actually post my weight, which I hate, but trying to tell myself that none of you are using the metric system so you won't really know my weight... yeah I know that isn't completely true, but just let me believe it... okay?

Here we go, "The Bye, Bye Babyweight, 12 week challenge"

My goal weight will be 74 kg, which is around my weight before getting pregnant, I think... yeah I would like to loose more, but I also have to be realistic, so within the 12 weeks that will hopefully be accomplished.

My current weight: 82,8 kg

I have also measured myself, which can NOT be recommended if you don't want a total shock... again I will go with the lie about you not using the metric system. These will only be measured again at the end of the challenge.

Waist: 88 cm

Hip/ass: 111 cm

Thigh: 66 cm

Upper arm: 32 cm

So in order to reach my goal, this coming week I will try to do the following:

Eat smaller portion (stop before I'm completely full)

Go to the gym twice (my husband is home the next 2 weeks, so that should be possible)

Not eat candy (that is a hard one, maybe I should write eat less candy)

I'm not sure how this first week will go, because on Saturday I'm going to a party with my colleagues, and let's face it alcohol is not the best thing for a diet, but I can't keep coming up with excuses for waiting to start this, so on Saturday I will look a bit more lightly on my diet and have fun, but hopefully still loose weight!

Keep your fingers crossed for me to succeed this! Because I really can't afford to buy a totally new wardrobe, and as much as I love leggings, well I can't wear them all the time either!

Wedding Wednesday, post 16

2011-07-13T15:05:00.004+02:00

Wow, another week has passed and I have been MIA... it's been a really busy week, and I almost forgot it was time for my last Wedding Wednesday post.

Today I'm suppose to show the most recent photo of my husband and me... well my husband might take a lot of photos, but he isn't in a lot of them. So the most recent photo of the 2 of us is from last year when we went to Berlin during Easter....

I am also suppose to tell you what I love most about my husband... I guess that is his humour, and the fact that he is so easy going, his motto is "what we don't get done today, we probably won't get done tomorrow either", so he doesn't complain when the laundry doesn't get done, or that I postpone the cleaning for yet another day:)

Okay this will be a short post, because my parents in law are coming over for coffee, so see you later!

Wedding Wednesday, post 15

2011-07-06T08:45:00.000+02:00

First I want to thank you all for your kind words at my last post. Right now I'm not worrying about my job, at least I have one when I get back, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my husband will find one soon... even daydreaming that he will get a job that will bring us to live in Singapore, USA or Australia for a few years... but I doubt that will happen, but a girl can dream can't she:)

Well onto the Wedding Wednesday post, which today is about kids...

Well we had Jonas in the beginning of March, can you believe he is already 4 months? Sometimes I look at him, and think where is my little baby that I brought home from the hospital? When he gives you a smile and has that look in his eyes that he would be getting into trouble... well he is hardly a baby anylonger but a little boy.... well I know he is still a baby, but he is growing so fast!

I'm suppose to talk about birth control as well, but I am not the one to teach you, for years we kinda just lived life dangerous... so when we wanted to have a baby, we figured it would take ages for me to get pregnant, so it was a bit scary then I after a few months found out I was pregnant... well we were super excited, but also realised that our kind of "birth control" or lack of was probably not the safest...

For years we had told people we didn't want kids, just because we didn't care for all the questions of when it would happen... so some people were a bit surprised when we told them, my mum's first words weren't "congratulations" or "I'm going to be a grandma" no her first words were "but you didn't want kids!" so we had to explain that it was all planned:)

We are only planning on having this 1 little wonderful boy, though the thought of staying home for another year is quite appealing... but then Jonas pulls one of the days he had yesterday and I don't want another one... a whole day where he is hardly sleeping, just being cranky... and even more cranky at bedtime... well such a baby will cure most people, but then you see the big smile when he wakes up and it's all worth it!

So that was is for this Wedding Wednesday, have a great week!

The job situation...

2011-07-03T08:44:00.003+02:00

Well I spent the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday wondering what was going on at my work place... why did we all have to come in on Wednesday morning?

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday our HR manager called me to inform me about everything, so I actually ended up not going in on Wednesday. But the position I had before going on maternity leave... well by September that doesn't exist any more! Well not completely true, because there was 7 of them, and by September there is only 2, and they will be a bit different, so I'm no longer interested in it, which doesn't really matter because I guess I wasn't considered for that position! The HR department will be closed down in the store, and will only exist at the main office for the whole chain.

So quite a few changes will be made, but I haven't been fired... Yeah for maternity leave, they don't dare to fire you, because they know they will be sued by the union! So I have a job when I get back in March, but I don't know what I'll be doing, and right now I don't really care!

They have treated people very poorly in my opinion... the boss of the department store in our city said that they will find jobs for everyone affected... yeah right, that is why a girl who has worked there for 13 years was told to take a position that will only last for a year... she asked if she could think about, but that was her only choice, well that or being fired. Another girl was offered another position which was a demotion and she had to take a pay cut, she also asked if she could think about it, to which they had said "yeah for 30 seconds" and one of the guys was fired and not even being offered another position as promised.... I know a lot of those who got another position are now looking for another job, and I really don't want to go back, but hey it will be 8 months before I have to and a lot can have changed before then.

So I kept my job so far, which is more than my husband can say! On Thursday he got home, and had been let go because the company hadn't reached their budgets and were firing a few people, unfortunately one of them was my husband! Though he still have 3 months left, and there is quite a few job listings right now, so we are trying to stay positive, and hoping this way he will find something closer so home, so he won't have to commute 50 minutes each way... besides he was getting tired of the job he had, but it would have been nice to have something else before having been fired!

So this whole job situation kind of stinks right now... I try not to worry about my job yet, since so much can still happen, but keeping my fingers crossed that my husband will find a great job soon:)

Ohh sorry for the long post! Happy 4th of July weekend USA!

Wedding Wednesday, post 14

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000+02:00

Wednesday again... time for my 14th post in the Wedding Wednesday series. Today I'm going to tell you about the first place we lived together.

The front of our first house
We had been together for about a year when we moved in together. I had been living in a dormitory, and in January 2002 I went to Slovenia as a part of my studies, so when I got home I moved in with Frank in his townhouse. You want to hear something funny... he bought that house when I was 13... okay maybe not so funny, but it really shows our age difference of 9 years.

Our backyard

We lived in that little house until 2005 when we built a new bigger house. Our first place worked pretty good, we had a fair sized livingroom, a bedroom, an extra room, bathroom and kitchen... but in the end it just seemed too small. So we sold it, and wanted to buy something bigger, but the house we wanted wasn't on the market so we decided to built instead.

Our kitchen, yep it was green:)

So that was it about our first house.

I'm curios and nervous...

2011-06-27T21:35:00.002+02:00

Tonight my boss called, and asked if I had any plans on Wednesday at 8.30 am. Everyone is being called into work, everyone who has the day off, is on maternity leave etc. There would be some information for us, he didn't know what would happen, he was just told that he had to get everyone from his department into work.... so I curios, but also a bit nervous!

I have been told "off the record" that they fired the boss of the electronic department (which I by the way don't get, he is pretty much the only one left who knows everything, not only everything in his department, but also for the rest of the store, I bet it's because his salary it too high). But they wouldn't gather the whole store "just" because of that... I think a lot of people has been fired, and there will be some organizational changes as well.

Oh boy am I happy to be on maternity leave right now, it just makes it so much harder for the to fire me... so hopefully times have changed by the time I go back to work. But now I keep thinking about what could happen, who they might have fired etc. So I'll probably won't get much sleep the next two nights, because I will be wondering....

Wedding Wednesday, post 13

2011-06-22T08:00:00.000+02:00

Time for another Wedding Wednesday post, today I'm going to write about my thoughts of marriage, the hard parts and the easy parts.

To me married life isn't much different from before. People asked me "how is it to be married" well let's see... the toiletseat is still up, and I'm still not complaining about it, life is just too short for that... besides I probably complain about a lot of other stuff, just not the toiletseat:)

Our life didn't change because we got married, and honestly if people expect their relationship to change because they get married... well then you probably should marry someone else! In our case we had lived together for 7 years before getting married, and I think that was when the big "change" happend... we had to get used to sharing our space.

Honestly I don't have any big thoughts about marriage, so I'm not going to pretend to be some kind of therapist giving out advice. Though I do believe that it takes a bit of comprimising from both sides to make a marriage work, but isn't it like that in all kinds of relationships?

I guess that's it, a bit boring post, but it will have to do:) Have a great week everyone.

In the navy...

2011-06-18T22:55:00.003+02:00

yes, you can sail the seven seas, in the navy.... okay enough of the Village People, but that song is just stuck in my mind right now, and knowing the lyrics to it have kept me from changing any diapers today...

We were at some friends house last night, and after having talked a while someone said something about the navy, and I started singing... next thing my husband and I were discussing the lyrics... he said "no way, they aren't singing you can sail the seven seas" and I was sure that was the lyrics, so the next thing we were making a bet. Our friend asked what are you betting? meanwhile she was turning on her laptop to google the answer. We are really lousy coming up with things to bet about, last time I won a bet I got the last chocolate milk in the fridge... well she suggested the loser would change all the diapers today, and that seemed pretty fair to both of us.

So if you know the Village People, well then you know I haven't been changing diapers today... and why did I know the lyrics for that song? Well... back in 1998/1999 when I was an Au Pair in Maryland I went to a dance at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Every year all the Au Pairs in Maryland is invited to a dance at the Naval Academy. And guess what Viivi, Camilla and I listened to in the car on the way to the Naval Academy.... yep you guessed it, the Village People:)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wedding Wednesday, post 12

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000+02:00

It's time for another Wedding Wednesday post, and today is about the honeymoon.

To us it wasn't like a real honeymoon, everyone else called it our honeymoon, but we would have gone on that vacation even if we hadn't been married, but for the purpose of this post let's called it our honeymoon:)

We went to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. We started our planning our trip to Singapore, because a friend of my husband were stationed in Singapore for 2 years working for a Danish oil company. So we were going to visit him, and hey we got free accommodation:) I love visiting new places, but the best part of visiting places where you know people is you get to see parts of the city that you wouldn't see if you were there as a tourist. We got to eat at all the great places, because our friend knew where to go, we got to see things that wasn't in the guide books etc. So we had an amazing time.

Our friend knew where to get the best king crabs in Singapore, a bit messy, but sooo good!

Our friend had taken a week of work so we travelled together to Vietnam and Cambodia. But because the plane tickets to Vietnam from Singapore is quite expensive we went through Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. So my husband and I went there ahead of time, so we could see Kuala Lumpur as well.

Just a little bit of the beauty of Halong Bay, Vietnam

When our friend joined us we spent 3 days in Hanoi in the north of Vietnam, well one of the days was spent in Halong Bay. Then 3 days in Saigon/Ho Chi Mihn City in the South of Vietnam and last 3 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which were spent exploring Angkor Wat.

My husband and me in the Angkor Wat area in Cambodia.
We had an amazing trip, and before heading on that trip we had seen what we wanted to see in Singapore, so the last 4 days we had in Singapore were just bonus days. We did a little shopping, relaxed by the pool etc. So we had the perfect combo of a vacation, we got to see a lot of things, but still had time to relax... I hate spending a vacation by the pool, well we pretty much did that in November in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, but I was pregnant, we were there for a wedding and we did go on one trip. But honestly I hate having travelled for hours just to stay at the pool, then I could just find somewhere close by!

So our "honeymoon" was perfect, we went back to Singapore last summer, and the city is still as perfect as it was the year before. And Vietnam... well I don't know how to put it, it was amazing, the people were so nice, and you felt so welcome, even walking in parts of Hanoi that didn't seem like the best parts of the city we felt perfectly safe (you can't do that everywhere). Cambodia and Angkor Wat was an experience by itself, it's har to imagine how they built all those temples... but after seeing "old rocks" again on day 2, well you just don't do it justice, you get a bit fed up with, but it's still amazing.

One day we will go back to Vietnam, I dream of travelling from North to South. Showing Jonas this beautiful country, but he will have to be a bit older so that he can understand.

On our honeymoon we fell in love.... with Vietnam:)

A photographing weekend...

2011-06-13T13:01:00.005+02:00

It's been a long, relaxing and photographing weekend... and best of all it isn't even over yet, because today is a national holiday!

We haven't been doing much, except for taking photos of Jonas... I have been surfing online and was really inspired by a Finnish woman called Adele Enersen she has taken a whole series of pictures of her daughter called "Mila's daydreams", I am telling you she is so talented and creative. I found a lot of pictures via google, she hasn't posted too many on her blog, but you should go check her out here.

So here is a few photos, some inspired by here, and one just because...

A little trip to outer space!
In the whiskey barrel
And I got the laundry done:)

And the best news I got this weekend... well it came to me on Thursday, and I couldn't wait for my husband to come home so I could tell him... and after that I couldn't wait to tell you, but I wanted her to tell you first... but if you haven't seen it yet, well I'm going to tell you:) Wendy is expecting a baby in December... yeah, so she is not only getting a visit from Santa this year, but also from the stork.... isn't that exciting? Congrats Wendy!

Summer Must Haves from Fiji

2011-06-11T13:44:00.003+02:00

So back in April I signed up for Krystens Summer Must Haves swap. I was paired up with Vanisha who lives in Fiji... well she lives in both Fiji and Australia... confused? She is from Fiji, but is doing a PhD at the Australian National University, and right now she is back in Fiji doing field work...

For some reason, which can only be blamed on the post office, though I'm not sure in which country... well she send out my package in mid May, but it didn't arrive until this Thursday! For some reason my package has been through the UK to get here. Well it doesn't matter it's here now, and I love it.

When I opened the package there came a really nice fragrance, which turned out to be the soap, pineapple soap to be exact, made in Fiji, actually all the products are made in Fiji. Besides the soap I also got a Sarong (Sulu in Fijian), don't you just love the colours of that? Can't wait for a chance to wear it. Then there was a fan to keep me cool in the heat, a frangipani flower for my hair and a bag to carry it all in... so now I'm ready for the summer... if she would only have sent a small part of the beach from Fiji (which I'm sure are a lot nicer than the Danish beach) it would have been perfect:)

Thank you so much Vanisha! And have a great weekend everyone!

Wedding Wednesday, post 11

2011-06-08T08:00:00.000+02:00

It's Wednesday, and you know the drill... today I'm going to talk about the favourite and the least favourite part of the day.

The least favourite part of the day is easy, and if I have to change anything that would be it... I guess it would be stupid to change something I liked...

I absolutely hated that we spent almost 2 hours at the photographer after the church before going to our reception. If we could do it again I would have preferred to spent time with our guests instead. We would have gone to the photographer before the church, I know it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, but honestly I would rather have the time with our guests. My old conductor from the band I played in played at the church, but they had left the reception before we got back... 2 weeks later he was dead, and I never got to thank him... how is that for bad luck?

Driving of to the photographer, little did we know that we would spent 2 hours there!

I know we got really great pictures at the photographer, but we would have had that anyways, and besides my hair might have been even better, because before getting in the car to go to the photographer my husband told me to shake my head to get out some of the rice, but he lent me a helping hand, and messed with my hair... I can still hear every girl outside the church hold their breath, like they were waiting for me to freak out... any other day I probably would have freaked out, but I was just too happy.

The favourite part of the day, well I can't pinpoint just one thing... just spending the day with all of our friends and family, everyone being happy and I had the time of my life... I really wouldn't want to change a thing... well except for the time spent at the photographer.

Dancing the linedance we were taught at my bachellorette party

So that was it for my favourite and least favourite part of the day, luckily the favourite parts outshine the least favourite part so much that I kind of wish we could do it all over again:)

Jonas got baptised

2011-06-06T12:25:00.009+02:00

On Saturday we celebrated Jonas' baptism... and my birthday. Jonas did amazing in the church, unfortunately we weren't allowed to photograph or record during the ceremony, because I would have loved a recording of what happened.

We got up there, and Jonas was okay, he had been crying or anything... and as soon as the priest looked at him and started talking, he put on his best and biggest smile... which made her loose focus, and every time she said a sentence he smiled even more, so it ended up with her laughing, us laughing and the whole church laughing, it was hilarious. So she ended up saying I guess this didn't turn out all that solemnly, and afterwards when she gave us a bible she told him that she would never forget him. She lost it completely, she tried taking a deep breath, but her hands were shaking from laughing, it would have been so fun to have had that on tape:)

Me and Jonas at the church after the ceremony, not the best picture of me... well the best of those we have from the church the others are awful...

After the church we had lunch and a small celebration at home, and the weather was perfect... well I'm not the one to complain, but maybe it was actually a bit too hot:)

Otherwise I have been busy with getting ready for the party so I haven't had time to read blogs or anything, so soon I will try to catch up... depending on how long Jonas plans on napping, because he has reached another milestone... his first tooth has just broken out and another one is on the way, that combined with the heat makes a bit of an upset baby, though surprisingly he slept through the night... then again he hardly slept at all yesterday.

Have a great week everyone!

Wedding Wednesday, post 10

2011-06-01T08:00:00.000+02:00

Wednesday again, and the topic for this Wedding Wednesday post is the cake and food.

I will start with the cake, since that was the first that were served for our guests. Since my husband doesn't eat much cake (he will eat a chocolate cake, but not fruit, berries or cream) we decided that we would serve that a the reception right after church. Quite often we had been at weddings and were hungry by the time we got to the reception, but had to wait till dinner before eating anything. Besides after a full dinner, then coffee and the "get lost" food in the end, people are often too full to enjoy the cake. So we didn't cut the cake ourselves, and I couldn't care less, our guests loved that they got the cake after church while we were at the photographer. Actually I didn't even taste the cake until the day after... it was covered with white chocolate, had some strawberry filling and the rest I don't remember, but everyone told us it was the best wedding cake they ever had... I think it was partly because they were hungry at the time. We had been looking around for cakes, and I believe that as soon as it says something with Wedding... they will charge you double or more! But our chef knew a guy who could make this one, and it was cheaper than any offers we had, so we took it, and I love it.

Our first course was fish (and I hate to admit it, but I can't remember what kind of fish) I think it was salmon and halibut with some seaweed (kind of like sushi). It tasted really great, and we were happy with our choice.

Our main course was entrecote wrapped in bacon, potato lasagne, vegetables and the best pepper sauce... I went for seconds just because of the sauce... I love food, and well people who say a bride doesn't eat because of her nerves... well they obviously haven't met me:)

Our dessert was a cheese plate (since my husband doesn't eat cake and dessert), and that had a mixed reaction, some loved it and others wished that my husband liked ice cream. But it was our wedding, us who paid and then I guess it was just fair we got something we loved.

After dinner there were served coffee, and in Denmark it's common to serve something for your guests right before they leave. So after the music ended there were some bread and different kind of meat. It's common to call it "get lost" food in Denmark, but I think it's a nice way to end a great party... then again I love my food:)

First love!

2011-05-28T18:30:00.003+02:00

Jonas has fallen in love, and as much as I wish it was with me, I'm afraid I stand no chance next to Emily.

You remember I told you about the group of new mums I'm meeting up with once a week, well one of the other mums has a little girl called Emily, and Jonas fell in love rigth away... too bad for him Emily played hard to get, and hardly noticed him the first time:(

But on Wednesday we met up at Emily's house, and on her own territory she warmed up to him, and they held hands.

Emily's first love might be her dad, but she is warming up to Jonas:)

Emily is actually born on the same day as Jonas, and next Saturday they will meet at the church, not to get married, but they are both getting baptised, but who knows... some day they might get married!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I have been baking...

2011-05-27T08:00:00.000+02:00

Apparently becoming a mum also mean you get domestic. Well I felt like baking, so the other day I made what in Danish is called "pølsehorn" and directly translated it's "sausage horns", these a great for a light/fast lunch or a snack. So here is pretty much how it went...

Getting out all the ingredients... or well almost all the ingredients, the hotdog sausages is missing.

Dissolving the yeast into the heated milk.

Adding the flour, butter, sugar and salt, and getting ready to get my hands messy...

After getting my hands into the whole mess, I was just hoping Jonas wouldn't wake up right then and there... luckily he didn't:)

The finished dough, just needed to sit for a few minutes, before moving on.
Rolling out the dough, adding the sausages...
Rolling up the horns...

Basting the horns with milk before going in the oven...
The finished result! Which is now eaten or frozen for later consumption:)

And here is the recipe:

500 gram wheat flour

150 gram butter

75 gram yeast

2½ dl milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Heat the milk and dissolve the yeast.

Mix with the rest of the ingredients, knead it together to a smooth dough.

Divide them into 3 equal parts and leave them for a few minutes.

The roll each part out like a pizza, and cut into 6 pieces and roll around the sausage.

Leave them in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise.

Baste the horns with milk or whipped egg.

Bake at 250 degrees celsius for 10 minutes.

Enjoy! And have a nice weekend!

Wedding Wednesday, post 9

2011-05-25T08:28:00.000+02:00

It's Wednesday, so time for another Wedding Wednesday post. Today I'm going to tell you about the place we had the reception.

We decided to have the reception and the party at an assembly hall just 5 minutes walk from our place, and just across the street from the church. Usually assembly halls across Denmark has a fairly low standard to what food the serve etc. But this assembly hall was taken over by a great chef a few years earlier, and have a really good reputation.

So the place doesn't look fancy on the outside, but they have really done a good job on fixing up the inside. We got a really great service, and the best part is that those who didn't know the assembly hall, was definitely not expecting anything like it. I remember my cousins husband telling the chef that he was expecting a way lower standard when he saw the wedding was in an assembly hall.

That was it about our reception, or at least about where we had the reception. Have a great day everyone!

My handsome date

2011-05-22T12:32:00.004+02:00

Well this weekend was a long one, not that it's over yet. Friday was a national holiday, so my husband was off work. Though on Friday we had to go to some friends sons confirmation. The weather was really great, and luckily Jonas fell asleep on the way there, so he slept through lunch, so I was able to eat without him on my lap:)

But after his nap he turned on his charm, and charmed everyone at the party:) Look at my handsome date!

Saturday we had a really relaxing day, well my husband is building a shed for our garden tools, and I was helping out while Jonas was napping, I'll end up being a real handy-woman!

Today my husband and friend are driving to Germany to do a little shopping. We need wine, beer and sodas for the baptism, and that is just a lot cheaper in Germany. But since Jonas doesn't have a passport yet we couldn't go... so after he will be baptised we will get him a passport. So now they are in Germany, Jonas is sleeping and I'm blogging.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Wedding Wednesday, post 8

2011-05-18T08:00:00.003+02:00

Wednesday is here again, so it's time for another Wedding Wednesday post, and today I'm going to tell you about the little accessories, like the jewelry, the shoes, the veil etc. I'm also supposed to tell you what the bridesmaids were wearing, but I didn't have any bridesmaids, it's not all that common in Denmark, so I'm just going to leave that out.

I'll start with the shoes, funny story really... when I went to try on dresses, I borrowed a pair of shoes at the store. After having decided on the dress, I realised the shoes I were wearing I really liked, and best of all they were really comfortable... so I asked if I could buy them, and I got a really great deal, half the price of the new ones, because others might have borrowed them while trying on dresses.

My shoes, with a little heel, but not too much because then I'll be taller than my husband, and a lower heel is also more comfortable. I might colour them so I can use them again... but what colour? Black is the safe way to go, but it will also depend on the clothes I will wear with it!

My veil, well the lady at the store just put one on me, so I could get an idea of the whole look, and again I took that one, I guess I'm pretty good at making decisions... or the lady at the store just knew what I liked, without me knowing it ahead of time... Also in my hair were some little twirlies that I ordered online since I thought they would go well with my necklace.

My veil, you can barely see the twirlies, but they are there!

My garter was I actually borrowed from a friend that had been married 1½ year earlier, so it was both my something borrowed and something blue... well my earrings was also borrowed from my mum. The necklace is a Swarovski cross that my husband bought me when we visited Prague back in 2004.

Showing of my garter (it's a common tradition in Denmark, as well as the groom is showing his boxers). You can see the necklace, but for at better look see the top picture of the blog:)

I guess that was it for my accessories. Have a great day everyone!

My week so far...

2011-05-14T09:42:00.005+02:00

This week have been fun, on Tuesday Jonas and I went to baby singing at a church in town. Some of the girls from my midwife group asked if we wanted to come along, and Jonas really seemed to enjoy it... well at least part of it, just until he fell asleep.

Jonas taking a nap on the couch in his PJ from Wendy

Afterwards we met up at our place, and just imagine 5 girls with their babies... well to say the least that doesn't go over quiet:) I really enjoy spending time with these girls, which is a bit strange, because the first time I met them at the midwife... well let's just say I didn't think the most about some of them. But I guess now we just have so much in common after having followed each other through the pregnancies and everything.

Jonas just haning out!
Yesterday I went to meet up with a group of mum who live really close by, and we have all given birth within the same month. It's the municipality that sets up these groups, I guess they figure it some kind of support system for mums. I used to think that it was kind of silly, but now... well I did sign up for it, so I guess not so silly after all. I guess it's because now I'm staying home on maternity leave for so long (I'm starting work the day before Jonas turns 1 year old), it's just nice to meet up with other people during the day, because let's face it, you don't get a whole lot smarter talking to a baby, and some adult contact is good for you:)

So on Wednesday they are all coming here, and then we start taking turns visiting each other every week. Well in the beginning it will be every week, and then after the summer we might switch to every other week, but we will see how it goes.

Hope you all will have a fab weekend, mine will be spent watching the Eurovision song contest, a bit of baking and a little cleaning... and Jonas and I might have a job modelling again:)

Wedding Wednesday, post 7

2011-05-11T11:58:00.000+02:00

Wednesday, and you know what that mean... Wedding Wednesday, and today I'm going to tell you about the dress.

I did not have an idea of what I wanted it to be like, it's not like I have always known how it should look. I remember back in the earlier nineties I saw some dresses that I thought back then that was how my dress should be if I ever got married... but if you hadn't noticed what was in back then... well is was not what I was going for in 2009! I thought I wanted something that was tight all the way to my knees, and then it would be huge from there down... well that was in the early nineties, which is almost the eighties...

Me in my dress just before going to the church. I don't have any good close up pictures of the dress unfortunately...

So then I started looking around for a dress in the fall 2008 I had no clue to what I wanted. On one hand I would like something simple, but on the other hand I wanted something amazing since I wouldn't get the chance again. Our neighbour knew a dress designer who would make my dress, I just had to know somewhat what I wanted... and besides I wouldn't be without trying dresses.

I found this online, so you have a better view of the details!

I went to a bridal shop with my mum and my brothers girlfriend. The woman asked what I wanted, and I said "I'm not sure, but something simple and something amazing, and preferably with a halterneck". The woman and I picked out a few dresses, but they didn't have many with a halterneck, but they could sew one on she said. The first dress I try was actually the one I got, I tried about 8 dresses, and every time I looked over at the dress I had on first. I was just so right, and I bought it, I figured since it was all I wanted, why go to the trouble of getting one made... I had figured I would like parts of one and parts of another.

I bought the first dress I tried on, and that's the story about my dress:)

Party Planning...

2011-05-08T09:54:00.003+02:00

Well first of all I'm going to wish you all a Happy Mothers Day, my first as a mother:) So thank you Jonas for the tablecloth and the worlds best mum bookmarks (which I might have bought myself)...

At the moment I'm planning our annual Survivor Party, some of you might remember it from last year. We have invited about 30 people, who will be divided in a red and a blue team, and they will spent the day competing in different party games, and one by one they will be voted of, and in the end we will have a winner.

Last years winner

But this is where I might need a little help from you guys. I have to come up with a lot of party games where 2 teams can compete against each other (or a few people from each team). So I figured you guys might have some great ideas, and maybe some games I had never heard of... so please let me know, because I would like to come up with games that we haven't used before.

Happy Sunday and Mothers Day!

Wedding Wednesday, post 6

2011-05-04T10:46:00.000+02:00

Yet again it's Wednesday, and time for a Wedding Wednesday post. Today I'm going to tell about the colours and the flowers that we used.

I decided on a light green and ivory or white being the colours used at our wedding. For me to choose a pink or a purple just seemed to girlish, and after all green is the colour of hope, so I guess it couldn't fit better.

This picture is probably one of the best of my bouquet. Mostly roses, some clematis etc. It's actually a colleague of mine who made it, she used to work at a florist, and offered to make my bouquet... and she did a really good job if you ask me:)

A picture of one of the tables, I guess we were pretty lucky that our party favours matched the napkins. The day we went to talk about the table settings, flowers, napkins, food etc. I had forgot to bring along one of the little bags my mum had all ready made for the party favours, so we were going through their napkins, and I said I think this one will match... I didn't go back later to check, it wasn't until we drop of the party favours the day before I got to see them together... I guess you can be lucky sometimes.

Last a little peak of what was in the party favours, some candy, a piece of chocolate, a little perfume, some mints, a few painkillers for the day after, a toothpick and a dance card. It's not all that common with party favours in Denmark, but we had been at some friends wedding, where they had them, and we stole their idea. Everyone loved them, and the best thing was it was kind of an ice breaker for the people seated together who didn't know each other... though it didn't seem to be a problem for people to get the talk going!

Well that was it with our colours.

The day I got to be a model...

2011-05-01T18:14:00.005+02:00

Yep I got to be a model for a few hours... well more like 20-30 minutes. And honestly it was not all that glamorous, there were no stylist to dress me, no make up artist, no one to get me coffee, nothing... expect for a really cute male model.

My husband needed to set the lights in his new studio, and needed someone to "model" for him, so Jonas and I got to do a photo shoot with him! The things is I didn't get to even change my clothes or do my make up, so this is how I look on a Friday night, when I have been home all day taking care of my baby, who for the record hardly slept on Friday because he had a little cold and a stuffy nose (try getting a baby to blow his nose! I ended up being the mean mummy trying to rinse his nose).

Any ways the pictures were just taken so he could see if the lights were set up right... and here is a picture of us after my husband have been playing a bit with it in photoshop.

I learned that modelling is not all it's cracked up to be... but if I get to model with so cute models every time, well then maybe, but just maybe I could cope with it.

Wedding Wednesday, post 5

2011-04-26T19:36:00.014+02:00

It's Wednesday, which mean it's time for another Wedding Wednesday post. This week I'm suppose to show you engagement or bridal pictures, but since that isn't really something that you do in Denmark we don't have any. Instead I figured I could show you some pictures from my bachelorette party, but just to warn you the pictures at the end might not be child proved!

My friends, including my mum and mother in law picked me up at work, which was a total surprise... I had for some reason figured it would be on a Saturday. The first picture is of them waiting for me to come to the information desk... some of them had also "dressed up" for the day.

They called me from the information desk that they had a customer, who wasn't satisfied with a frying pan she had bought, and she was really mad. So I went up there, but just when I saw the guy who had called me I thought "that smile... that's not a pissed off customer" and then I saw everybody standing there with flags, ready to take me on an adventure...

First I had to drive around a bit, and then we ended up at our house where they dressed me up... real charming right, I figured the skirt made me look a bit like Carrie Bradshaw... or not! We started out with a great brunch, before starting a day full of games.

Well it turned out the day was pretty warm, and I asked if I could please put on something else, because I was way too hot. When the girls saw I had bought a tank top online with the text "Frank's girl" they agreed I could put that on!

We had all been divided into 2 teams, and then had to compete in a lot of different games, like boot tossing. You had to take a boot, throw it between your legs and over you head, and see who could throw the longest.

I was actually pretty good at the boot tossing, just one girl who was better than me... unfortunately she was on the other team. We also had games where we should do a beer baton, cake decorating and a lot of other games.

In the middle of the day we went to the local school, where they had arrange a woman to teach us to line dance... well as you can see I wasn't too good at it, I guess the beers got me confusing left and right... Luckily that didn't count as a part of the competition:)

Then we had to get the pencil in the bottle, but that was so not fair... the girl I was competing against had almost just arrived, and was sober... and me... well this was pretty late in the day, so I was not so sober, so I lost...

Well we must have won some of the games, because our team won, and got gold medals, which I still have, and I love bringing it up to some of the girls who were on the losing team:)

Late in the evening they had hired a stripper... well that almost went wrong, because the had somehow gotten the dates mixed up, and the company thought he should come on Saturday evening... so they had to send another guy...

It was so hilarious... he wasn't really good at dancing, and a few things went wrong in his show, but we had the best laugh, and just a real fun way to end a great day.

We had a great day, and I couldn't have wished for a better party. It's a party we often talk about, and have actually talked about when I'm done breastfeeding and can drink again... well we want to do the party again... well probably not the stripper, he was a bit expensive and honestly I doubt it's that fun the second time around. I think we will just impersonate the stripper ourselves, one of the girls is really good and impersonating him, so that should be fun.

Well that will be all for this Wedding Wednesday, have a great week everyone.

A busy Easter

2011-04-25T12:09:00.004+02:00

We had a busy Easter, but fun at the same time. On Thursday my parents came, and we went into town where there was motorcycle rally. There didn't seem to be as many motorcycles there as there was when we went 2 years ago, but there were a whole lot of people... way too many so we didn't stay long.

On Friday my brother and my aunt came by for lunch, and we had a fairly relaxing day. The weather during Easter has been amazing, but on Friday it seemed to be so hot that Jonas couldn't fall asleep, so he hardly slept all day... but he didn't get upset until evening, so it didn't seem so bad.

On Saturday we visited some friends and went out for lunch. Yesterday we went to visit my parents in law at their summerhouse on this little island outside Esbjerg. So Jonas got to go on the ferry for the first time. We went for a walk when we got of the ferry before calling Franks parents so they could pick us up, so I was able to snap a few pictures from the island. It's really beautiful, especially when the weather is great.

In between everything we have done my husband has managed to finish his photo studio in the garage... well after snapping a few pictures out there he realised he needed another lamp, which is now on the way, and soon he will be up and running... though he is just going to use it as a hobby, I doubt you can charge people when you have no practice, but he is looking forward to practiscing with all the light settings and editing the pictures afterwards. Me... well I'm looking forward to getting some great pictures of Jonas:)

Happy Easter everyone, hope you have enjoyed it:)

Wedding Wednesday, post 4

2011-04-19T22:22:00.006+02:00

It's Wednesday, and that means time for another Wedding Wednesday post. Today I'm going to tell you about the ring, who chose it, how it looks, how his ring looks etc.

Well my husband said right away he didn't want a ring, because he couldn't get used to wearing one. Some women would probably be upset that their husband didn't want to wear I ring... well not me, I figured I could then spent more money on my ring:) Though I wanted him to get a ring, but he could just get a cheap one, but he needed one to put on in the church.

Any ways we went to pick out our rings together, and on the way to the jewellery store he decided he wanted a ring after all. So we look on rings, and I always thought I would want something in white gold, and I also knew I didn't want any "bling"... no diamonds for me, I don't believe Marilyn Monroe and "diamonds are a girls best friend".

My ring (sorry for the poor quality of the picture)

So we looked at rings, and ended up deciding on a plain gold ring, nothing fancy, after seeing their selection of white gold rings, well I just changed my mind. We both thought the price was quite high, but compared to the others we had seen we figured it was okay... well little did we know, the priced showed was of course for both rings and not for one only.... I guess everyone would know that beside us, so we were pleasantly surprised when we went to pay for it!

To this day I put on my ring everyday, and I feel like something is missing if I don't wear it. The story of my husbands ring is a bit different... he wore on the day we got married and the day after, since April 6th 2009 (two days after our wedding) it has been hanging on the noticeboard, but I honestly don't mind. I know we are married, and I couldn't care less if people can see that when we go out!

My husbands ring nice and shiny on the notice board (again sorry for the poor quality of the picture)

That was the story of our rings, nothing fancy... just like us:)

Wonderful weekend and busy week ahead!

2011-04-18T21:25:00.003+02:00

I'll try to keep this short, but I'm not sure I can when I first get started. But we had a wonderful weekend. On Friday I was able to spent a couple of hours at the hairdresser, thank God for formula:) So I got highlights, which was very much needed with almost a year without!

Saturday we had a relaxing day, in the afternoon my husband went to a soccer game with a friend, afterwards Jonas and I picked them up and had dinner and drinks (one drink only for me) at their house. We had a great time, and weren't home until 2.00 am.

Sunday a childhood friend of mine and her husband came by for lunch. We had a really nice afternoon, though all 3 of us were a bit tired from the night before. So we tried to get to bed early, which isn't easy with a baby, but around 22.00 I was able to turn of the light, and hit the pillows:)

Today we first went shopping for a stroller, which is a jungle, but we ended up with a light weight which will be good for travelling, we have the pram for the more daily use. Afterwards I met with the girls from my midwife group. We met up at noon, and suddenly it was 15.30, the time flew by, but I guess that is what happens in good company.

Jonas all ready sleeping in his new stroller.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet with my boss for our yearly interview, so keep your fingers crossed that I will get a raise... I doubt it though, because right now they are firing people... so I'm just happy that I'm on maternity leave so they can't touch me:)

On Thursday my parents are coming, and staying till Friday. My aunt will visit as well on Friday, so we will have a big Easter lunch on Friday. Saturday we will go out for lunch at a fish restaurant with some friends, and Sunday we are visiting Franks parents at their Summer house on a little island just of the shore from Esbjerg.

Well I guess I was right, I couldn't keep it short! Anyways Happy Easter everyone!

Wedding Wednesday, post 3

2011-04-13T12:18:00.005+02:00

So today's question is about the proposal, How did it happen? How long were you engaged? Was it a total surprise?

Well if you guys haven't realised it yet... well we aren't really all that romantic! So why try to be something we are not? I think it would just come over all akward!

So we kinda just agreed that we wanted to get married. We had been at some friends wedding, years ago, it was at a really fancy and expensive place, a lot of things went wrong that day, but the party was still one of the best weddings we had been to, and that was all because of the people invited to the wedding. So back then we said that if we ever were getting married, we didn't need a fancy place, we just wanted our friends and families there.

Then in September 2007 we were at a wedding in Sweden, and after getting home in the night we talked, and said we would have our wedding at a place close by our home... I guess that was the first time we really talked about our wedding for real. Well I guess besides from when we were travelling in the US during July of 2007, where I suggested getting hitched in Vegas. We were in our motel room, trying to figure out what to do in the evening, and I suggested we would get hitched by Elvis... but Frank wasn't up to it!

via

But it wasn't until sometime in January or February of 2008 I asked Frank when we should tell our parents that we wanted to get married... and he said, well I have all ready told mine, and I told him and her... well he pretty much had told most of our friends as well! So we found a date, which was Saturday April 4th 2009, which was the week before Easter. So after deciding on the date, I called my parents and told them to hold the date!

So I guess we got engaged sometime during September 2007 and February 2008. Yeah really not a lot of romance, and really not much of a surprise either... I guess you can't really called it a proposal, more of an agreement:) Nothing with him getting down on one knee, no ring or anything, but just in our own special way! So therefore there are no pictures of our engagement either!

I love hearing other peoples stories about their engagement etc, but let's face it, if Frank would have done something really romantic, it would have felt all wrong, that is just not the kind of people we are!

A smile for your Friday!

2011-04-08T09:44:00.003+02:00

Look at this beautiful smile, I bet you can't help smiling either. It did melt my heart when Jonas smiled and laughed.Yep that is Donna Martin aka Tori Spelling in the background, we are so watching the old episodes of 90210!

Yesterday I went to see the other girls from my group at the midwife and meet their babies, and let's just say I have been inspired to make a list of what I'm grateful for. Kimbirdy does this every Friday, and after yesterdays events I got to make it too.

So here we go, this week I'm thankful for...

having an easy birth, yeah it took long, and I was tired, but after hearing some of the other girls stories, well to say the least mine was a walk in the park!

having a baby that sleeps, Jonas only wake up once a night, and have 2 long naps during the day, one girl had a baby that pretty much cried 24/7...

my happy baby boy, with that smile how couldn't you be happy:)

passing my due date with 15 days... I know I complained at the time, but after I watched a show this week with babies being born too soon... well let us just say I would rather pass my due date with 15 days than having to go through that...

the nice weather, I do believe spring is here to stay now!

going out for lunch with 2 colleagues on Tuesday

my husband working on turning the garage into a photo studio (oh Jonas you better be prepared to be photographed!)

Well that was it for now, have a happy, wonderful weekend!

Wedding Wednesday, post 2

2011-04-06T08:54:00.008+02:00

So it's Wednesday again, and time for my second post of Wedding Wednesday. Todays question is "When did you know he was the one?"

Well I don't know... when we first started dating I figured it would only last till the end of the year, because in January I would be leaving for Slovenia for 4 months. And to be honest I didn't think much on long distance relationships.

But May turned into December, I had to move out of my dorm. Some of my stuff were moved to my parents, but a lot was moved into Franks house. We had agreed that when I would get back from Slovenia I would move in with him. So I guess somewhere between May and December of 2001 and figured he was the one...

I guess my parents realised this when I got to Slovenia. I arrived on a Friday afternoon, I was picked up in the airport of a student who had studied in Denmark. He helped me get settled in, like picking up the key for the dorm, getting the basics grocery shopping done, showed me the bus stop etc. And then I was left to myself... in a dorm which I was suppose to share, but no one had moved in yet, and no one did move in until after a week or 2. The little kitchen could function okay I guess, but there was nothing in it... no pots or pans, no forks and knives, NOTHING! I talked to a guy further down the hall, borrow a knife so I could at least get some bread. He told me the cleaning ladies could provide pots and pans etc. but they wouldn't be there before Monday! So I went back to my room and cried my eyes out, and was so ready to go back to the airport and take the next plane home. It all just seemed to suck, and on top of it all I didn't have a cell phone yet, so I went to a payphone in the hall and tried calling Frank... who wasn't home! So I figured I called my parents, who were quite surprised that I cried so much... when I lived in the USA for a year I never called home crying, so they "blamed" Frank.

There I was in a foreign country, and hated it... well after a few weeks I started liking it, and further down the road I loved it, I loved it so much that when I had to leave I cried again!

One good thing came of my phone call home. My brother was still at my parents (he lived in England at the time) and he was going to Egypt with work shortly after. He felt bad for me, and I received my first and only postcard ever from him... so now if he has to go somewhere I ask if I get a postcard if I call him and cry on the phone:)

So I guess sometime in the first 8 months I realised that Frank was the one!

A wonderful weekend!

2011-04-04T11:22:00.007+02:00

We had a wonderful weekend at my parents house. We drove down there on Saturday, and Jonas was sleeping as soon as he got in the car, but he usually sleeps around the time the we drove, but he only slept for the drive, usually he sleeps an hour or two longer, so the weekend has kind of mess up his routines... at least it seemed like it after we got home yesterday, but now it seems like it's not so bad after all, he only woke up once during the night (which he usually does), but he woke up a bit early this morning, but is now sleeping like he usually does at this time, so I don't think it's all bad.

Jonas showing off his muscles... he is getting really strong:)

We had a great time at my parents, on Saturday the weather was wonderful, so my mum, Jonas and I went for a walk while my dad and Frank watched a soccer game. Otherwise it was a fairly relaxing day.

Me and Jonas in my parents garden, the first time Jonas went outside without his hat, but only for a short time, I don't wont my baby to get sick!

On Sunday my aunt and my brother came to my parents house for lunch, and several of my parents friends came by to see Jonas. My parents are eager to show him off, but I guess that is how it is with their first grandchild:) Though I think all the people coming over was a bit much for Jonas, so he was happy to get in the car and drive back home so he could get some sleep!

Jonas stole Grandma's chair!

Today the weather seems really nice, so Jonas and I might go for a short work later on, but not too long, I'm still a bit tired from the weekend, but I do believe the fresh air will do me some good. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Wedding Wednesday, post 1

2011-03-30T11:00:00.003+02:00

So I totally stole this from Krysten over at After "I do", but before my blog will turn into a baby blog, I figured I could do this, and by the time I will be done with this, I might be a bit more creative so the blog wont need to change it's name to "All about Jonas".

Here is the different this I will be blogging about over the next many Wednesdays. I figured this was a good idea with our 2nd anniversary coming up on Monday, so here we go!

1. How it all began: How you first met, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture etc.

2. When you knew he was the one: Self explanatory, but how did you know?

3. Proposal: How did it happen? How long were you engaged? Was it a total surprise, pictures etc.

4. The ring: Tell us about it, did you pick it out? Did he? Pictures! Tell us about his ring too!

5. Engagement/bridal pictures: Let us see them.

6. The colors: Show some of the flowers and the colors you used.

7. The dress: Was it what you always imagined? Did you have it made for you? White or Ivory?

8. The little accessories: You know, the veil, the shoes, the jewellery, what did your bridesmaids wear?

9. The reception: Where was it at? Show us some pictures! What day did you get married?

10. The cake/food: I love food, so tell me about what you had at your wedding.

11. Favourite part of the day/least favourite part of the day: Can be anything.

12. Honeymoon: Where did you go? Was it good?

13. Thoughts on marriage: What is the easiest/hardest part? If you could change anything, what would it be?

14. First place you lived together: Pictures if you have them.

15. Kids: Do you have any yet? How many do you want? Any tips on birth control good/bad?

16. Most recent pictures of you and your significant other, and what you love most about them: And any other thoughts!

How it all began: Well we first met shortly after I moved to Esbjerg to study in 2000. I think the first time we met was at the Student house (a place where students from all the different educations could come and hang out). We were both bartending, it was the 2 of us and another girl. It was a pretty slow night, so Frank and I were pretty much just chatting and letting the other girl do most of the work! Frank thought he was ohh so funny, he asked me "If you didn't have any hands, would you wear gloves?" to which I answered "No", so he continued to ask "Why are you wearing a bra then?". There you have it, that is my husband for you:) For the record I would like to state that we did not end up together that night, or several nights after that. I didn't get pissed though, I just laughed it of, and I guess that was what he liked about me.

On May 12th 2001 I was bartending again with a few other girls, it was the night of the Eurovision song contest, and it was hosted in Denmark, so we had made a big event of it. Frank came to the student house shortly before closing, he had told some of his friends that he was going there to get with me... and I hate to admit it, but that was the night we got together. We went out, and one thing let to the other, we started kissing, and have been together ever since.

So we were together for 8 years before we got married... I guess we wanted to be sure it was the real thing! Or maybe we just hadn't given marriage a lot of thought earlier on.

Okay the first picture of us together it quite hard... my husband doesn't like to be photographed, so this picture is from some friends wedding in 2007, I don't think it's the first picture of us together, but it's the oldest one I can find... and don't judge my hair!

Well there you have it, my first Wedding Wednesday post, I'm looking forward to answering more of the questions!

Spring, friends and invitations

2011-03-24T15:21:00.003+01:00

It's been a great week so far... the spring has come to Denmark, and I'm hoping it's staying. Though they have talked about snow tomorrow, I find it hard to believe with the great weather we have right now, it's not super warm, but the sun is shining, and Jonas are sleeping outside in his pram. The great weather also gives us the opportunity to go for long walks, which hopefully will lead to me loosing a few more pounds:)

Yesterday a friend of mine came for a visit with her baby, whom suddenly seemed amazingly big... I guess with Jonas only being 3 weeks, Ella just seems huge being 8 months:) It was really nice seeing her again, we used to work in the same department, but after she went on maternity leave we haven't been the best at keeping in touch. Unfortunately she is going back to work soon, so instead of taking her full maternity leave she is saving some, and are therefore able to only work 30 hours a week the next year and a half. Wouldn't that be cool? I won't be able to do that though, since I'm employed as a leader, and therefore don't have a fixed schedule.

Today I have done a little light cleaning while Jonas is sleeping, and I have made the invitations for his baptism, and if I have to say it myself they turned out pretty great:)

We are having the baptism on my birthday. We were planning on having it the day after, since my birthday is on Saturday, but our church apparently have special baptism services the first Saturday in the month, so come June 4th Jonas is getting baptised.

Now I'm looking forward to the weekend, where we will have some friends over for dinner. So depending on Jonas' mood we will see who is cooking the dinner, me of the husband:) Have a great weekend everyone when you get there!

Surprises in the mail

2011-03-21T13:16:00.006+01:00

On Friday my husband went to get the mail, and the were 2 packages in the mail for me. Well the first one was some clothes I order online for Jonas. One of the diaper companies allows you to collect points every time you buy some of their products, so I spent some of the points on a soccer outfit for the Danish national team for Jonas... well he will be able to fit into it by next summer or so, but it's really cool:)

The other packages I didn't even know the company shipping it to me... but I opened and it turned out I had won a book. During my pregnancy I have entered a lot of competitions on some of the pregnancy websites. The thing is have entered so many so I forget to check back if I have won, so there I had a wonderful surprise of winning a book. The book is about 4 women who meets up in a mothering group (which I look forward to doing soon too), and the only thing they have in common is that they have babies who are all born around the same time. So now they are getting to know each other, and making friends they probably would never have made if it weren't for the kids. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Today is the first day my husband is back to work after me giving birth. In Denmark the husband gets 2 weeks of leave when he becomes a father. I was fearing it a bit, but so far Jonas and I are doing fine, we slept in a bit, but I still have managed to get a few things done... like loading the washer, unloading the dishwasher, making a doctors appointment for Jonas' first check up and called the church to reserve the date for his baptism. Right now Jonas is sleeping and I should go make myself some lunch.

Have a great week everyone:)

Supply and Demand

2011-03-15T12:36:00.006+01:00

I don't remember the first time I heard about Supply and Demand, but it has probably been in one of the first classes in business school. Since then I have heard about it several times, first in business school, later when studying Marketing Economy, and in my job in retail.

The last time I heard about it was from a midwife... she was telling about breastfeeding, and telling us that the more milk the baby demanded, the more our bodies would supply... I must say I'm not fully convinced, not after having spent 2 or 3 nights breastfeeding more or less non stop from 10 pm till 3 am...

So last night we caved in... we made Jonas a bottle from formula (don't tell the midwives!), and no wonder I have been breastfeeding for 5 hours every night, he was hungry, he ate a whole bottle of 100 ml. He fell asleep at 10.15 pm and slept till 2.30 am, where I could change his diaper, breastfeed him and put him back to sleep in just 20 minutes! Which was repeated at 5.30 am before sleeping till 8.30 am. So this morning I actually woke up not feeling tired! I don't even think I need a nap during the day today... So hurrah for formula, which now will be a routine every night.

I'm not giving up breastfeeding just yet though, because that seems to be an excellent diet... and let's face it, I still have a bit of baby weight to loose. In a week though I have lost 4 kg, never done that in such a short time, and especially not while eating cake and candy! So breastfeeding is now my all time favourite diet, so I'm sticking with it for some time still:)

The combination of breastfeeding and formula has left me with extra energy, so hopefully I will also start getting better at reading your blogs, I have read some, but I hope this mean that I will have energy to start commenting as well!

Becoming a mum...

2011-03-10T20:45:00.006+01:00

Becoming a mum is all I thought it was, and a whole lot more...

Giving birth was tough, I started getting contractions on Wednesday afternoon, and at midnight they were steady, with 5 minutes apart, so we called the hospital, who told me to come in for a check (which I had also been in the morning, because I was 2 weeks passed my due date). We went, I got checked and I got sent back home... I was told that the contractions would get worse! Ahead of time I had been wondering why women would complain about the contractions, because I didn't think they were all that bad!

But they got worse, a lot worse, but they didn't get steady, sometimes 15 minutes apart, other times 7 minutes... so no use in calling the hospital again right away, and beside I had an appointment Thursday morning, where they would start the labour. The contractions were bad enough, so I couldn't sleep, and I started vomiting due to the pain. Thursday morning at 8.30 couldn't come soon enough...

We went to the hospital, and I got checked again, and this time I was 6 cm open, and was in labour... I can't tell you how happy I was when they told me, I couldn't help thinking that the pain had done something good!

But I still had a long day ahead of me... he wasn't born until 3.45 pm, and I got even more exhausted, since I hadn't eaten since the night before, which I had thrown up. But I had the best midwife you can imagine, she was so patient.

When he arrived it was the best feeling I have ever experienced, and so worth all the pain, but I must admit I had imagined it would be much worse. After giving birth the midwife first brought us some sandwiches, but they were running short, because so many babies had been delivered that day... so she ran to the cafeteria and brought us some chicken, and being incredibly hungry it was probably the best chicken I ever had... not sure I would feel the same if I got it today, but at the time I needed the energy.

Now we have been home for almost a week, and I have been loving almost every single minute of it... well not the night between Sunday and Monday, because Jonas wouldn't eat, his tummy was hurting and he was crying, and I was crying... amazing how much you care for this little person, and you just want the best for them, and I felt helpless... But Monday came and everything turned around, and ever since he has been the best baby you can imagine, sleeping most of the time, only waking up 2-3 times a night to get something to eat, and then going straight back to sleep. So I guess I can't complain:)

Well that will be all for now, have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Jonas has finally arrived!

2011-03-06T10:25:00.006+01:00

Finally I have given birth, and to the most wonderful baby boy if I have to say it myself:)

This will only be a short post with a few pictures, I will tell more another day, but I just had to show him off!

Jonas was born on March 3rd 2011, 15 days after my duedate! Given birth was hard, but it was so worth it, and looking back actually not as hard as I expected...

Jonas was 56 cm/ 22 inches long and weighed 4340 gram/9,6 lb.

Have a great day everyone!

Still waiting!

2011-03-01T13:43:00.003+01:00

Yep I'm still waiting to go into labour, I thought it was time yesterday, so I called my husband at work, and made him come home... but false alarm. He was happy though, because he got a half day of work, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get another ultrasound, so I'm trying to look on the bright side... I get a new picture of my baby:) I can quite decide if I'm hoping they they give me something to get the contractions started, or if I want them just to send me home, and give me another appointment Friday. I would love to go into labour and get it over with, but I'm not sure if I want them to give me drugs to get started...

Besides if I'll wait till Friday my brother will back again from his business trip to Dubai, on the other hand I kind of could not care less if he sees my baby Wednesday, Thursday or if he has to wait till Saturday! My sister in law on the other hand is probably a bit disappointed, because she left for Thailand on Sunday, and will be gone for 2 weeks. One thing is sure I will have given birth before she gets home, so I'm just hoping she enjoys her vacation.

10 thing I'm looking forward to...

2011-02-26T19:57:00.006+01:00

I'm now 11 days past my due date, and I do believe it's fair for me to look forward to not being pregnant any longer! So here is 10 things I'm looking forward to after I'm done being pregnant.

Holding my little baby boy

Being able to get out of bed without sounding like a 90 year-old lady

via

Being able to tie my own shoes (okay so far that only happened once, but you feel a bit silly when your husband has to help you)

Not having to go to the toilet 20 times during the night, I'm probably gonna be up with the baby, but that's okay

Being able to comfortably shave my legs, they are so far away so I'm just glad it's still snowing, so I can skip shaving every once in a while

Being able to get dressed without working up a sweat

Not looking around the floor if I'm picking something up, thinking what else can I do while I'm down here?

Getting to drink coffee again, since I'll hopefully be done having heartburns

Being able to get up from the couch without thinking "this is hard work"

Blogging about something else than pregnancy and annoying calls to hear if I have given birth!

That is something to look forward to if you ask me:) Hopefully only a few more days left!