What to dress my newborn in for leaving the hospital?

The other day we got the delivery of babyclothes from a former collegues of mine!
How great it is to inherit clothes and equipment. That is something I really "burn" for, if I can put it like that.
Clothes hardly used, maybe they have already kept several newborns warm. That is also a nice thought!

I have gone through about everything, but this cute set sticks out as the one we will use to bring our newborn home from the hospital. Its from "name it", light blue, cotton, and loose around the waist.
Pants are size 50 so I just hope our petit will not be more than 50-a-few cm...
Anyway they dont stretch out their bodies totally, so I guess it will be fine anyway.

Cute, right?

Big empty space...

...

My first hours of maternity leave fills me with a big empty feeling...

Sad.
Tired.

I didnt want to to leave work.
1 1/2 hour lunch with nice collegues. Really tasty yummie chocolate/orange cake. Good buns.
Nice speech, and I was about to cry.
Beautiful jewelry as farewellgift.

Then spending a lot of extra time printing out recepies, talking even more with collegues. Making the farewell last just a bit longer.

So, now WHAT?

Picking kids, making dinner. Fixing the flat a bit.
Tomorrow I will really feel the difference.

Nesting

My brother came by with 2 BIG boxes of babyclothes for us from a former collegue of mine:)
The kids turned the boxes upside -down and started playing with it. Trying on hats and way to small jackets and stuff;)

Now, I will go through everything and prepare myself mentally for the newborn to arrive any moment (or at least within 3 weeks!!)

We live in the cold north...

...
So what else can you expect than a cold house and preparing a fire on the 13th of May...

Machoman preparing a fire.

I will start the last bakingproject for my very last day at work tomorrow...

Checlist before going to the hospital for delivery

1) Some snack, something to eat. (ok, last time we brouhgt some nuts, water they have in the hospital).
2)Extra t-shirts for your partner. (Salva doesnt sweat, and seriously, its not THAT warm in Bergen yet. Might consider a woolen sweater instead...)
3)Lunchbag for your partner. (No way he will sit down and take a break while I am in labour... Sorry Sam, but I will need you to be my instant assistant, no breaks allowed).
4)  A morning gawn. ( Really necessary??? Why make my own dirty and create more laundry for myself when I finally come home? No, I`ll rather use those beautiful ones that you get in the hospital).
5)Pyjama... (I consider the hospital clothes for a pyjama. Why bring my own?)
6) Sweaters (in plural...? I dont mess that  much?)
7)2-3 breastfeeding bras... (will I get more breasts?)
8)Indoorshoes (ok, not too practical to walk around in winterboots or in the socks... after all its a hospital)
9) Toothbrush and toothpaste! (OFCOURSE!! Just wondering why they actually have to tell us THIS???)
10) Papertowels (ah, how lucky I am to have work in a hospital, KNOWING that there will be plenty of paper there to wipe my nose or any other part of the body). I am SO NOT bringing this.
11)Hairdryer (I am not going to a spa or a party, and after delivering it would be a pity if I cared that much about my own appearance to even think of bringing this object)
12) Drinkbottle (I find it totally OK to drink from a glass.)
13) Books and magazines (after just having delivered my baby I think my mind will be very much focused on just the baby and not allow any other gossip or conspirationtheory occupy my brain)
14) Hobbystuff (bring my scrapbookthings??? That would be another suitcase...)
15)Mobilephone, charger, camera and healthcard. (Obviously)
16) Babyclothes, babysocks and a blanket ( yeah, yeah, thats the reason for being in the hospital, we wouldnt forget that...)


What a ridiculous list. Most things are obvious. I think we would have managed very well just using common sence.

 (Boys at teatime today. Fresh ginger with lemonjuice and honey, yummie. By the way, they have played like CRAZY with the dinosaurs!! What a FINN-success once again!)

The earlybirds

Me and Adrià were the first ones up this morning.
I would say that then everything is just like usual!

He comes running into our bedroom every morning and crawls in with us.
How cosy is that?

Marcus normally sleeps longer.
Adrià is just like me, food is the first thing he thinks of in the morning:)

So, we made our oatporridge made on fullmilk with lemonpeel and honey.
Adrià even wants it covered with different kinds of seeds and a little bit of butter and cinnamon on top!
Healthy start of a beautiful Saturday. Sun is shining in the windows, joho!

Finn makes your life funnier:)

How far would you drive to add 27 new (well, actually used) dinosuars to your collection???

You guys know by now how I just LOVE buying second hand! My favourite site on the net is the famous Finn.no, secondhandmarket!
I found this collection of dinosaurs, 27 of them for ONLY 200.- NOK and thought what a bargain!!

I arranged transport with my brother today after working until 11.30 and off we went to pick the stuff...
She lives by a lake, Kalandslake...We drive around, and around and even more around just to realize that there is NO grey house there with the number 35...

So I call here, sure that this must be a silly set-up for me... You just dont do these kind of things to highly pregnant women who wants to buy toys for their kids!

"oh, are you at the Kalandslake south of Bergen???"
"Yeah... " I say while I realize that there must be another K-lake NORTH of Bergen as well...
FUCK. We are at the wrong lake...

"Ah, dont worry" she says, "I ´ll come to meet you half way"!

How sweet FINN-people are!! They must be the people with the biggest hearts:)
They just seem to do SO much for little money.

Me and  my brother got precious time in the car talking a lot about anything! Wow, that was ages ago, and we have decided to meet much more often. The kids miss spending time with their uncle, but from now there will be a change!

So, after all, spending a lot more diesel and time on this Finn-project  and even byuing a few itmes more than planned, I am home again, superhappy and convinced that Finn adds if not a new dimension to my life, at least it has provided me moments to laugh of while I feel good about recycling!

Always fun to pick the kids in the kindergarden

"Mum, dont look, dont look... Ok, NOW you can look"!!!
 Haha, always fun to pick them up at the kindergarden:)

My pain in the ass has been just terrible today...
It must be a squeezed nerve..
I would have lost a race with a turtle or a snail, I am sure.
My collegues felt bad for me, and let me have a loooong "farewell cake and muffin"-party with the section where I worked earlier. That was so nice. I brought homemade blueberrymuffins and another "buncake". They gave me a beautiful orchide and a farewellcard... I almost started crying...

It doesnt matter that I have taken plenty of goodbyes the last years... Its nothing that I get used to. Spending hours and hours with theses people, discussing life and trivialties have made me become more and more found of them....
My sweet, sweet collegues...

Now they all have to come and visit in Spain:)

Comparison!

 

Hihi, funny photos!
To compare the bellys and hairstyles... Oh my God.. I am so NOT supposed to have a fringe...!

I am now in week 36,5 with my 3rd child.
The other photo is from my pregnancy with nr 2, 37 weeks pregnant!!
I see that todays belly has to get much lower...

Uff, I feel like a whale:)

The pain I experienced earlier today is almost gone! The doctor thought it might come from a quick movement or excessive carrying or activity. I also believe so. Actually I carried Adrià to the bus yesterday... And he is not a light kid.

So, I will try to take it a bit easier the next days. Cool down and rest when I can... How boooooring.

Now, heading to the kindergarden!

What a pain...

Yeah... this morning I discovered a new pain in my body... Like a knife cut in my lower back, in the right part of the butt. I feel it when I sit and also when I put more weight on the right foot...
It didnt help that I had to run with the kids to the busstop... Ai, ai, ai, is this what they call "bekkenlösning???"
I am going to the doctor now, interesting to hear his opinion.

Spontanious dinner with the neighbours!

How practical to have the dinner prepared when we returned from the kindergarden?
Met the neighbours in the door and just invited them straight up to an informal dinner in our flat, just like that.
Supernice and it gives you a kind of weekendfeeling to do something like that on a weekday:)
The chili sin carne turned out really good!

Now kids are watching Star Wars with Salva and I am chilling! Nice to be TOTALLY off work tomorrow; I have a doctors appointment in the morning and it will be superinteresting to see if he can find out how the baby is situated in the belly... I am NOT sure that he is with the head down yet... I feel way to many kicks in the sides, and not agains my ribbones (as with Adrià). It is always good to be mentally prepared for a delivery with the ass first if he is not fixed...

I hope that if he has the slightest doubt he will give me an appointment with a midwife in the hospital. This pregnancy I havent been to the midwife a single time as everything has looked so normal and I have felt supergood.
Typical that I start to feel nervous now and wish I had gone to one earlier... There is just SUCH a long line to get one now....

Chili sin carne

I promise! This doesnt take much more than 1/2 hour:)

Chop 2 red peppers in tiny pieces, 2 yellow onions in tiny pieces. Fry in olive oil with a couple of garlic cloves. Then add spices like cummin, chili, pepper (what you like) and add a couple of cans of crushed tomatoes with a little bit of sugar to balance the acid.
I have added a few portions of naturerice to it as well. And finally 2 cans of red beans.
Then salt and organic stock to get the right taste:)

Impatient...

When is this baby gonna come out? And how big will he be? For littlebrother Adrià it is a big fact that he will become big brother!!
Both littlebrother and bigbrother! He is telling the babys name in the kindergarden.  But its NOT the name that we have decided!!

I am working my very last week at the lab... How sad. I have two different sections to "celebrate" with so there will be another bakingday for me on wednesday when I am off.

We have had so much fun this evening with rock and roll on the radio and ninjafighting in the sofa. Good laughter:)

And this for eveningfood!

Healthy and ecologic dinnertip

When I search for dinnertips and ecologic in norwegian I dont find much....
Therefore I thought I would come with a healthy and ecofriendly dinnersuggestion.
And its WITHOUT fish or meat!!

Its incredible how people in this country believe that EVERY dinner has to contain etiher fish or meat. What about just vegetables???
In the old days meat and fish were not everyday food. Well, depending on where you lived of course. But my point is that if we eat more vegetables than we can rather afford buying good quality meat/fresh fish a few days a week.

So, yesterday we had for dinner:

Fusilli Eco (from Kiwi). They were also integral. Apart from that I fried one yellow onion, one aubergine and a couple of garlics. I fried it in oliveoil, added a can of crushed tomatoes, a little bit of thyme and salt (tiny bit of sugar for the tomatoes), and grated parmesan on the top. That was it.


A perfect dinner that doesnt leavy you with a "rock"-feeling in your belly.


Cheap and health. Cant get any better!

City Boys

We went to the aquarium again today. What a bomb!!
We love that place, and the kids as well.
Waiting for the bus we had a look in the window at this great sportshop and I fell in love with this purple anorak...
What a beautiful color and I think it would be very useful in the Spanish spring and autumntime. And for our walks in the Pyrenees!

The only thing is that I have to pull it over my head...Well, anyway, I am not that concerned about my hairstyle and I would use it basically for sporty occasions.
Pity I cant try it on right now...
Got the feeling Salva is planning a little surprise for me in the nearest future;)

(A nice detail is that it is produced from organic cotton. The demand of cotton has arised immensly the last 2 generations and the use of pesticides is enormous in the cultivation of cotton...
The soil will get poor and  and the rivers polluted...)

Snowy lunch out...

We were taken by surprise by the snowfall at lunchtime today... It looedk nice and I decided to bring out the food since the rest of the family were playing outside, but all of a sudden it started blowing cold wind and snowing!!
Hello, this is 5th of May... Maybe I just forgot how it can be in Norway at this time of the year.
Can never take spring for granted.
                                         


  If you look carefully you see the snowfalkes in the air...

And this is me and 36-weeks belly tomorrow!
I can really tell I am highly pregant now. My energylevels are pretty low and I should rest much more...

 

When kids get a hand on your make up..

 Oh my... What did they get their hands on??

 Alright... doesnt look too bad yet...

 Seriously in process...

 Hard to take them seriously...

 Yeeez, what happend to this little fellow?

Haha, this is how Marcus and Adrià spent their afternoon.
They found my make up in the kitchen (of all places...) and started immediately painting themselves...
Pretty dark results!
I just couldnt take them seriously at dinnertime, but was constantly bursting out in laughter!

It was very hard to get them clean afterwards, and Adrià still looks a bit like a heroin-chic arround his eyes:)

What???

Marcus: Mum, I am a grand danoise, Adrià is my retired owner, and he is feeding me carrot and spinach and cottage cheese.

Funny creatures!

We are early birds this morning, getting ready slowly for kindergarden and a day without work for me.

Nice friday everyone! Its soon weekend:)

I am not a lifecoach, but...

why not share some advices to a better life?

1.Take a 30 minutes stroll every day, and while you do it; SMILE!!
2. Sit down peacefully at least 10 minutes every day.
3. Sleep for 7 hours at night.
4.Live with the 3 E`s: Energy, enthusiasm and empathy.
5. Play more.
6. Read more books than last year.
7. Practice meditation and yoga.
8. Spend time with people over 70 and under 6!
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Drink a lot of water!!
11. Dont compare your life with others. You have no idea what challenges they confront in their lifes.
12. Realize that life is a school and that you are here to learn.
13. Dont take yourself to seriously, no one else does!
14. Be grateful for every day you wake up... You never know when its your turn.
15. Give more hugs!




So, that was a little reminder of the important things in life:)

I am having a cup of my new specialty: fresh ginger tea with lemon and honey:)
To give me a boost for another parentsmeeting in the kindergarden!

How to spend a day off?

I work 50 % now and that is just looovely.
Not that I am that kind of person that lies down a lot and relaxes, but I believe that doing something else can give you energy as well.
So, as usual when I have time off, I cook!
Haha, what else is new??



Today I make farewell cake to bring to work the next days I am there...
It is so sad. I cant believe I am quitting. Eventhough quitting should be my sepesialty since we have moved here and there the last years... Well, the fact is that I dont like it, I even get quite emosional about it...

 

I try to think that the end of one chapter is the beginning of another. We dont know what it will bring yet, but are willing to give it a try.
We can always raise up again if we fall...

Me and Salva are both of the same opinion: you have to take some chances in life. And think in 1-year terms.

Another great thing about being half "sick" these days is that I get to follow and pick up my precious kids in the kindergarden. This morning I hardly wanted to walk home again.