Kleine Kleintje

I did not think that my second pregnancy was going to be so much different from my first, but it has been and it is. Why is it different? For one, I felt nauseous for the first three months (no nauseousness with Sophia). And second, there is sadly not enough time really to ponder too much on the fact that one is pregnant with the second little miracle, the days just fly by and caring for our first miracle combined with work takes up all of my time. Sometimes I only remember that I am pregnant because I get contractions when I walk too fast (which I do most of the time when I am walking). Of course I notice that I am pregnant in other ways too, hard not to when clothes start feeling rather tight and when putting on certain types of shoes require some effort and when the boobs are basically exploding (never really have that feeling unpregnant). It still feels like a miracle though and it is, it is so amazing that a little person is growing inside me. Since we wanted to know the sex and since we have been to two ultrasounds after week 20 we by now know that it is going to be a girl, another little princess. I am so happy about this, Sophia will have a little sister to care for, play with and share her sorrows and joys that she does not want to share with us with and foremost, they will always have each other (god willing). Kleine Kleintje as we call her is expected to join us at the end of July, beginning of August. She already feels like part of the family and like all parents we are super exited about meeting her for the first time and welcoming her into our family and the world.

Going solo

I just came back from a business trip to Germany, a business trip that luckily could be combined with pleasure, because pleasure it is when you can sit with your dearest of friends and talk for not only a few minutes but actually hours without being interrupted by surrounding events. During some periods of the calendar year it is more apparent than others, just how far up north Finland really is compared to continental Europe. As I landed in Hamburg it was around +20 degrees celcius, I left Finland in +3. I enjoy watching buildings from the taxi window, its so different from the sites I usually rest my eyes upon, its inspiring. The fair that I attended was very interesting, a fair on airplane interior and onboard supply. I dear say there are some luxurious plane rides out there, not that I will probably ever be onboard one of those but oh how traveling to Lima in Peru, visiting Hendrik´s family would be a joyride if we could fly over there in one of those private suites...After the fair I was lucky enough to still have time for a little bit of shopping in a part of Hamburg called Blankenese, a small "village" on the outskirts of Hamburg where there is a pearl in terms of shopping, its a shop where they have stylish and rare samples of shoes, blouses, purses and jewellery and if there is only time for one thing when I visit, that is where I must go. All in all it was an excellent trip where work, pleasure and rest was in perfect harmony. The week ended with a parental party at Sophia's daycare, where we could actually sit down and get to know the other children's parents a bit better and I dare say we landed in a fantastic group of people (thank you Maria for that, you told me about this daycare and I HUNTED them for months to get a place), tired of travelling we sadly left around 23.00.

Precious

After having experienced between 1-5 tantrums per day for two weeks today came as a gift from heaven. Sophia was in such a happy mood all afternoon and evening that I was wondering what had hit her and us. Yesterday we went to have coffee with some friends and their children and I mentioned how much character I now realize that it requires to raise children, you have to be on alert all the time, no slack, if you slack once it will backfire on you next time the same situation arises and MY GOD have we fallen into that trap occasionally. This usually happens when you just want to have a conversation with friends or finish breakfast, lunch, dinner without having to go trough a tantrum, or a possible tantrum. I remember pre-child and what we were discussing...'we will never do this or that with our children' and then you stand there with your own children and you see the situation from a different angle. The comforting part about tantrums is that they are part of every child's development and it is something most children will go trough, some more than others. Another comforting thought that comes to my mind in the most desperate moments is that 'Sophia has a very strong character and it will get her where she wants in life :-)'. I love you Sophia!

The zoo

Sophia has changed my life, our lives, in so many ways (I guess like having children does, to some extent). I was not one to go to the zoo on a Sunday before Sophia, not just on Sundays, but any day really, it just did not interest me. Last Sunday as we were pondering on what to do on a sunny yet quite wet day we decided to head out to Högholmen, the Helsinki Zoo. To get going I kind of promised Sophia that she was going to see Pippi's horse there, since that sped up the whole getting ready process (which can be a rather quick affair or a very tedious and long process). On the walk to the zoo Sophia only spoke about Pippi's horse and where it is and I started regretting that I had been so foolish, how to get out of this one? We did have one tantrum on the way and I prayed to god that we would actually see some animals, any animal that was bigger than a house cat. Luckily we got to see two bears that were playing around in the snow and Sophia wanted to go inside and play with them (girl has no fears, just like her pappa). We also saw some "babianer", but those did not impress my girl. Just before we headed out of the zoo we managed to see a tiger, a huge tiger, very impressive animal I must say. We headed home, all satisfied with our little field trip to the zoo.

Hotel breakfasts

I am a hoteloholic, I LOVE hotels, nice hotels, small boutique hotels, actually they don't even have to be that small they just have to have an air of calm luxury, harmony. A hotel does not need to be expensive to give an air of just that, if the owners 'get it' its possible to create with the same means as a low budget hotel. In Finland we have not had very many of these hotels until recently and we still don't have MANY, but we do have some, in Helsinki, and since we don't need to stay in a hotel here we cannot participate in their atmosphere any other way than by having breakfast in them. The great thing about hotel breakfasts is that they are usually served from 07.00/08.00 which is when a "normal" family with children usually will have to have breakfast anyway since that is when the little darlings usually wake up...SO, that is what we do from time to time, have a hotel breakfast in a nice hotel AND we also try to combine it with seeing friends who are going through the same morning routines as us. Today we did just that, at GLO Hotel Art on Lönnrotsgatan 29, price for one adult 18€, children under 4 yrs. 0€, I LIKE and I RECOMMEND. The assortment was perhaps somewhat narrow but what was served was good and space wise it was also ok, included in the price was also a coffee of your choice!

A beginning

I have been postponing the launch of my blog, as if one moment is better than another for a first post. First, my idea was to launch the blog when we have moved into our new home (hopefully in April/May), I soon realized that I will be quite busy with packing/unpacking, organizing, decorating, etc., and that launching my blog then would not be such a smart idea after all. Then my idea was to launch the blog in the autumn after our second princess has been born (July/August); that idea does not need any further comments from my side, I think. So, well, I decided to launch my blog on a ordinary day in my life.

This blog came about as a result of my husband's continuous push to create something of my own - this is a start. Another reason for this blog is so that friends and family scattered all around the world can participate in our lives as we go along, without having to be on Facebook. I am a dedicated facebooker, but this blog can be much more than that. My mother tongue is Swedish, however, since I conduct about 50% of my life in English, and many of my friends and family don't speak Swedish, I have decided to mostly write in English, although, don't be surprised if I write the odd sentence or two in my own language.

I am a normal girl leading a normal life, happy to share my thoughts, ideas, dreams and feelings with you if you are interested. I do not claim to know anything better than anyone else. I have never been praised about my writing so don't expect grammatical and spelling excellence. I would like to make you laugh though from time to time, I believe that a good laugh lengthens your life, just as crying will give you wrinkles...