monday

This morning we embarked on the next stage in the quest to find what ails our dear first born. She's a little trooper, is our Maia.

The MRI scan showed nothing. Great! ...but, ah right, yea..hmm. Back to square one we go. After a lot of consulting, delibarating and head scratching, several doctors involved with Maia's case all agree that the swelling has been hanging around for too long to simply be put down to the fluid being a result of bruising. We are now being sent to a super duper specialist and an Optholomist to check the back of Maia's eyes for signs such as swellings that are common with juvenile arthritic conditions. So today we had more bloods taken as per order from the Specialist and spent 45mins sat in the loo at the doctors trying to get a urine sample from little miss. Something that could easily have been done over the weekend if we had known it was needed...but hey ho. Why make things easy lol.

 Wednesday sees me going back to work, one day a week, and Marko taking paternity leave. Gotta love the swedish system. It will be nice for him and the girls to have some time without mamma hanging around and butting in, and I think once spring and summer arrives they are going to have endless hours of fun at the beach and the park. I even have grand visions of cosy picnics being brought to work for lunch dates lol. Optimistic much?

But now I really ought to crack on and clean up after our waffle lunch...it made for rather messy cooking when little people want to be all grown up and help out. Gotta love 'em!

<3kim

a week of wednesday

Every day this week, I have asked myself ''But isn't it wednesday today? '' .
''Erm, no. ''

''Oh, ok then.''

Why I have had the feeling of wednesday I am not quite sure. I am not goint to complain though, wednesday are for me rather chilled out. Monday and Tueday have been spent working hard, and Wednesay is the day to step back, look at where the week is going, and plan plan plan for thursday and friday to make sure weekend is spent in the most optimal way. Actually, my ''plan plan plan'' is to work like a maid back in 1910-20's, and be as efficient as possible Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
In Sweden the weekend starts when your alarm goes off on friday morning.

Now I feel I must point out that yes we do have a normal working week here too, that is monday-friday, much like the rest of the world. The difference being that there is a special feel to friday here unlike in the UK. Fredags-mys, is the top of the agenda for 99.9% of the population, especially those in the family way. I remember myself, fridays ment Disney Hour (think an hour of Disney Junior once a week on the BBC/ITV)  and Fort Boyard with popcorn or crisps. If we had been really good, we would get both.

Another quirk of the vikings is Lördags godis, literally translated as saturday sweets. This tradition of only getting sweets on saturday is a widely accepted way of life for children, and its almost like a rites-of-passage when you get to the age where you are able to go the the shop by yourself to buy godis. The pride you have when you plonk the most treasured and longed for colourful bag on the check out, is immense. Something to be experienced to be truly appreciated haha.



With all the fika & godis that is consumed by the Swedes, it would be fair to assume that they are raher fat. But alas, no, they live up to the stereotype of being fit and healthy and living life.

They may not all be gold members at the local gym, have a state of the art home gym, and go pounding the streets for fun, but in general people will walk when possible, and children from a young age have a different view on being outdoors and always on the move.
They have a different appreciation to being outdoors, and are taught about it in a way that children in the Uk are not. That's what you get for having a relativley small population compared to the size of the country I guess.

There are just 1.4 million people more in the WHOLE of Sweden than the population of LONDON alone.

Sweden  9,088,728 population (2011) - Country Area: 449,965 sq km
UK        62,698,362 population (2011) - Country Area: 244,140 sq km

London - population 7,744,942 (2010)

Chew on that one, this saturday morning lol.

Happy weekend everyone! We're chilling out with dinner guests this afternoon and so far nothing planned for tomorrow =)

Have a good 'un!

<3 Kim


 

UK - 62,698,362 population (2011) - Country Area: 244,140 sq km

Capital city: London - population 7,744,942 (2010)

Housewife extraordinaire

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." ~Winston Churchill

It would seem that I have finally come out of the fog. I feel like a Queen having been reinstated, after some time in exhile. A grand comparison perhaps, but then, what is a mother if not a ruler and commander of a family unit, her own personal kingdom? After all, Queens and Mothers follow similiar job-descriptions; ensure ones subjects/children are happy, well fed,  sanitation of high standard, and that individuals adhere to the laws of the land/household.  A symbol for what is good, fair, and just. Not always the most popular, but she does what she musts to protect what is hers. No?

Let me begin by telling you that today, has been an incredible day. Today I have been superwoman. I have cleaned, ironed, cooked dinner, played out in the snow, played chase, blown rasberries, and Zumba'd. I even managed a shower, and got to wash my hair at the same time. Lazy a$$ that I am, I tend to run short on time most mornings before Mark goes to work, so to NOT wash my hair bending over the bath is somewhat of a luxury these days ;) Geezuus, the things one takes for granted before procreating ...

Now that might not sound an awful lot, I know some of you will be doing all that AND working, but considering at christmas I was feelin so pants that I didnt want to do anything other than what was NEEDED, I think its pretty good. The new year has brought reflections not just to the year that was, but for the one that is in front of us, and how we want it to be. And we didnt want things to be like they were. With a little outside help and encouragement, my attitude to things has changed, and things are back to ''normal'' at the Wilsons. With one exception. I am starting to enjoy housework...?!

If I am not careful, the above look shall become the norm, I will start wearing pinnafores and enjoy cooking too. Cant be having that now can we haha. But truth be told, my hair did look rather fab after being up in rollers....!

Have  good weekend y'all =)

<3 Kim

to ski or not to ski?

So here we are. Day 14 of 2012, and so far things are going good. Thing are cold, but then we are in the depth of winter and its to be expected really. Thankfully, the house is all toasty and warm. We've a really clever system which sets the temp inside by reading the temp outside first. I believe that is to be more economical, rather than say letting house get cold over night and setting the timer for it to come on say 5am or whatever. I think. Makes sense I guess, but if I am honest, I am probably still getting my head around all the new-fangled technology that abounds in a country such as this where we have some extreme temperatures come winter. Some, even view double glazing as substandard- TRIPLE is the way to go, so I am told. But whatever. My windows are double and thats fine with me lol.

I had a pleasant suprise this week on facebook. I happened upon a link onto a business page, where ( as they themselves admit) two fathers on parental leave and too much time on their hands had come up with  rather genius way of assembling what are essentially skiis onto your pram!?

 

Brilliant idea for when you are caught in a flash snow fall and the temp is loser to 0C than -10C (which is when you get the slushy kinda icky snow). But really, I am fascinated as to how easy and quick they are to take on/off?? If you are anything like me (that is, a bit fuzzy in the brain after kiddies ) you might just stick these fancy concoctions onto your pram and head off out on a nice easy walk and come by a shop. And thereby remembering all the little things that you need, like milk. and bread. Cereal is low too. Might as well get something for dinner whilst you are there etc etc... and I do believe that they would be rather rubbish at getting around the shops. Yes, now that you have thought about it I am sure you do too ;)

So I think I will be giving them a miss, because if I am honest, the extra effort that it takes pushing a pram around in the snow is all good when it comes to burning off those extra mummy lbs still hanging around. Also having the new zumba exhilarate should  go a long way into shifting a stone or two, if I can actually stick to doing it regular enough lol. Once Maia is in bed I am having a go. Honest, I am. I AM.

Anyhoo, ramblings over for now, need to get updating you on Marks adventures on the bottom of the sea! Until next time!

<3 kim

ooh btw- photo from http://www.axso.se/produkten_ehandel.html  

The year that was 2011

In keeping with all that is cliche at  New Year, we too have been reminiscing about the year that has been. And like everyone else, looking to the new year that is to come, 2012. So what did we do last year?

Well January started off rather sleepy, and with lots of hideous morning sickness. Not that I thought it was morning sickness lol, but a lot of excess acid. Bleurgh. The give away came when I went off my favourite cereal, which is rather sweet. Couldnt stomach anything sweet when pregnant with Maia. So it was no great suprise, but still a shock when the little white stick showed a big fat postive.
Miss Maia took up a new hobby- dancing! A lot of time was spent bopping and jiving in the first part of 2011, and we had  many many laughs lol

February saw the arrival of our wonderful new niece, Rebecca <3 And Charliebears naming ceremony . Other than that, it was rather quiet. A few dinners with friends, working, sleeping, sleeping, and yea, more sleeping. It's rather tiring making a new person ;) Did have a bit of a stressful last weekend as work was taking part in a wedding fair, and I had taken on the task to organise the day & finding the models, which was hard as everyone was dropping like flies with the flu that was doing the rounds lol.
Maia made sure to practice her driving, as she must if she is to be the first female F1 driver, that I am sure her father secretly wants her to be. With daddy and Louise's coaching and knowledge of cars, I am sure that is not too improbable ;)

In March we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! We had a whole day and night Maia free, so we went out for dinner, saw friends and went out on a mini trip on the snowmobile with some fika.
We also had our 20 week scan and found out that I was carrying a mini of the pink variety. So now, that would make 7 girls in total for gran&grandad Wilson , out of all 7 grandkids.... Will there ever be a blue?!

April started of pretty good, we'd caught a sewing bug, and made lots of dresses for Maia, and Mark started making me a new nappy bag for when bubs arrived (which, by the way,he finshed last month lol). We bought Maia a trike, so every time we were going to the shops or to see mormor and grandad, we took the bike rather than the pram. How our litte girl was growing up!  Easter, we all ended up with a sickness bug, and by all, I mean all. Mum, dad, alex, Mark & Jamal all caught the bug that Maia started with. Bless her. So well behaved with two flaked out parents, one hugging the toilet, the other cradling a bucket...ick!

May saw the much anticipated arrival of The Boys. A week of drinking, camping and manning it up was on the agenda for Mark, Max, KK, Kenny & Chino. Needless to say the boys returned men after their wilderness experience, whitewater rafting, swimming, making fires, building shelters and a heck of a lot of driving. Manly. Oh so very manly. Ugggg!
Meanwhile, back in civilization, my nana was here the same week and me & Maia monopolised her and got in lots of quality time and fun. A proper girly week, much needed and very much enjoyed =)

June was my birthday. Obviously not the whole time, but I wouldnt have minded the special treatment ;) Was at this point already fed up being a whale with the heatwave that was about. Talk about timing...Anyhoo. Lots of picnics! The best way to spend summer days, sat on yer backside eating good food as basking in the sun like a manatee. Cuz, y'know, in some lights they look rather like attractive women, if you ask the sailors of way back when ;)

July brought stress. Little lady living in mamma's tummy was playing acrobat twisting and turning everywhich was she could, but not head down. The '' will she, wont she'' was a hot topic of discussion, and I prepared myself for the fact that if she didnt turn, things might have finished with more intervention then I would have liked. Being the cheeky thing, she let us go as far as to need an assessment scan to really check her position as she was lying so far inwards the midwife found it hard to determine :) We also took a trip out to the moosefarm! Miss Maia wasnt so keen on taking a ride on it, even tho the little baba was more than happy having people sat on him. We made the most of all the Maia time we had left, as august and the due date drew near :)

August, august..it was to be THE month. The month that would change our lives, expand our family and make us into this fantastic unstoppable force, the family that could take on the world and win, because of the love we have for eachother...or something along those lines ;) Yes, I was filled with as much misery as anticipation as the 24th drew near, that magical day. Because each day that she didnt come early, was a day longer to wait. and wait. and wait. infact, we waited a whole 7days. Our second born was destined to be a September baby <3 Amongst all the waiting, we had bbqs, and really just made the most of the summer and time outdoors. Also celebrated our friends becoming parents for the second time to another son, coincidentally both their boys are 4 and 3 weeks older than our girls. Makes for fun and interesting times ahead lol

September started off with a lot of pain, what with being in labour lol. Read the förlossningsberättelse here http://athomewiththewilsons.blogg.se/2011/september/and-then-there-were-four.html on the old blog, if thatsort of thing takes your fancy =) We had Michelle and Frederik visiting at the end of September, and we were busy trying to orgnised Lily's Christening for when Gran&Grandad were coming to visit. But really, September was all about breastfeeding, nappy changing, sleeping and adjusting to life as a foursome. Lordy, how happy we were <3

October was another month that we couldnt wait for; the first time we would see Gran&Grandad Wilson since moving to sweden. It was an amazing week, lots of fun and catchin up to do, and I particularly enjoyed the conversations that me and dear mother-in-law had, it felt like I got to know her on a different level to before. But now, Im not just the girlfriend, I am the wife ,and mum to two of her grand-daughters. Im very grateful that both me and Mark get on with eachothers parents and families- its such shame when things fall into the stereotype regarding in-laws, it can cause so much heartache for everyone.  I am thankful everyday for everyone in my family

October started off great, and finished on high ( finding out Maia did not have leukemia) but inbetween that there was a whole load of worry and stress. Maia was admitted to hospital. Having been taking ibuprofen daily for3weeks, doctors were concerend when she developed a temperature that they couldt determine the exact cause of (no signs of cold/infections)  but her bloodtests showed very low white bloodcell count and they were wanting to investigate further into whether she might have leukemia. Things are still on-goin with regards to her knee being swollen, and we have an MRI scan on the 16th Jan, which will hopefully be able to give us some answers.

November was quiet. We were emotionally drained from hospitals, and a lot of unsettledness and crying with Lily. Miss Maia turned two, and we had a little party. I went and saw Breaking Dawn, like millions of others lol. Played outdoors lots, and the weather was finally getin chillier and more wintery. A bit of snow came, but disappeared again and came back after xmas. November was more about just being, and not over doing anything. I liked that =)



December meant Christmas! Christmas means familytime, means a chilled out mamma and everyone happy, and eating lots of food hehe.For once, I was rather quite organised with the christmas shopping and didnt have to elbow my way through the masses for any last minute things. Here's hoping I can be as organised next year! Louise left for the UK, and now she is gone until december next year-booo! But Im sure she will be having fun on her internship hehe ;)

So, that was the year that was, for us. Should have put this up a week ago lol, but have been so busy this week I've struggled to find time for the blog :) Normal service to resume shortly lol.

Much love to you all, here's to a good 2012 for us all!
Love Kim, Mark, Maia & Lily xxxx