The Monsoon

When it rains it pours they say. I really thought it was enough getting food poisoning and a cold in the same week. But no. I then got a toddler that somehow lost the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Then... I managed to pull a muscle in my back...

Thank God I am feeling much better now and the young one is sleeping so much better. Not yet fool proof and she's definitely not a " sleep through the whole night" type of person, but maybe we might get there one day.

Here's a sample of what we have been up to - in pictures.

Karelian pasties - bringing Finland to Saudi

Running - the young one first and me after her!

Picasso she might not be, here's the first drawing. Surely there are many, many, many more to come!

Har varit frånvarande en tid. Har nu klarat av matförgiftning, förkylning, en värkande rygg och en ettåriga evigt växlande sömnsvårigheter... Ja, sömnen e de väl ännu si och så med, men det är i alla fall bättre än för en vecka sen. Ännu vet den lilla int vad sova hela natten betyder. Men kanske hon gör det en vacker dag... Jag menar natt!

Här kommer nu ett litet bildkollage av vad vi har hållit på med.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 2

I would say that our shopping trip was successful. We did not come home eith a massive haul, but I managed to find an outfit for Eid, which is only a few days away. Here's a little teaser, I will try to remember to post a pic of me wearing it later on.

At the end of the day our daughter sported a slightly different skin colour. We are not quite sure if it is a tan or dirt (yes,we did bathe her)... Here she is helping her cousin study for her physics exam :)

Late night multitasking

Doing the dishes, having a coffee and putting the child to bed. Yup, one of these things is not getting done properly...

Diskar, dricker en kopp kaffe och lägger barnet och sova - samtidigt. Nåjo, om man frånser den lilla ettåringen som springer runt köksbordet...

The birthday party sook... and an ode to all mothers

Our baby girl turns one later this month and we did not want to have a massive birthday bash for her. A couple of girls in the playgroup at our compound are also celebrating their birthdays in May so we decided to combine our efforts and have a joint party for the girls!

Look at the beautiful cake my wonderful friend made for the girls!
She makes cakes when she's not busy raising a now 7 month old boy :)

The party was a great success, thanks to my great co hostesses and all our lovely guests, big and small. But... has anyone had their eyes well up when everyone is singing "Happy Birthday"? I kid you not, that happened to me!

I really don't know what came over me. Maybe it is sadness over the baby year that is soon coming to an end. It might not have been the easiest year, but it has been the most life changing and rewarding experience ever! Maybe it was because I was able to celebrate this occasion with a group of great people. Women (and their adorable children) from all corners of the world. Women who are all so different, but who all possess so many admirable qualities. Women who make me think "How on Earth do they do it?"

Thank you to you all, and thank you for making this party such a great success! But must of all, thank you for being part of our lives!

A very happy Mothers Day to all mums out there! You all deserve a pat on your back, because you are doing the most difficult job in the world: being a Mum!

Keeping the faith, or how our bundle of joy got her name

This is a post I have been meaning to write for the longest time, especially since some readers have asked about the name we chose for our little baby girl. I just wanted to make sure that my husband was okay with me sharing her name on the blog, as well as a bit of the story behind it.

I wrote about some of our considerations for choosing a name, you can read that story here.

As we did not know whether we were expecting a boy or a girl, we had a list for both. We (or maybe just I?) were quite sure that the baby would be a boy adn we did not have much difficulty coming up with boy names. For a girl it was much harder. I had a girl name that I liked very much from the beginning, but in the last couple of months I changed my mind completely and that name was off the list!

In accordance with Islamic custom, the baby is given his/her name as quickly as possible. For us it was important to start using the name from the very beginning as we are not fond of nick names (cute as they may be). So as soon as I was out of recovery and pain medication was sorted we started discussing. I think we had three or four girl names on our list, but it was quickly narrowed down to two. My husband found it impossible to choose between the two, so he left the last decision to me.

In the end there was only that one name that fitted our precious little girl that we had been waiting for so long. All our difficulties in the years prior to her birth really tested our my faith. My husband was always strong  (he is stubborn by nature) and always reminded me that we needed to have imaan (Arabic for faith) that one day we too will become parents. Hence our baby girl is called Imaan.


För knappt ett år sedan skrev jag om hur svårt det är att välja namnet för ett barn, ni kan läsa det här. Vi gjorde det inte lättare för oss själva genom att välja att inte ta reda på babyns kön. Därför hade vi en lista med 3-4 namn för både en flicka eller en pojke.

Efter att vår flicka var född satte vi så fort som möjligt igång med att disskutera namn. Vi ville slå fast namnet så fort som möjligt, för vi vilje veta vad vi skulle kalla vårt lilla rosa knytte. Ganska snabbt hade vi uteslutit alla andra alternativ utom två och det visade ej att min man inte kunde välja mellan dem. Så han bad mej göra det slutliga beslutet.

Sist och slutligen var det inte så svårt att välja namnet för vår lilla flicka som var så efterlängtad. Alla svårigheter under årens lopp hade verkligen tärt på mej och min vilja att kunna tro på att vi nånsin skulle få barn. Min man var stark (envis kan man väl också säga), han påminde mej om att vi måste ha imaan (arabiska för tro) och inte ge upp drömmen om att bli föräldrar. Där har vi vi orsaken till att vår älskade lilla baby fick namnet Imaan.

The 4 hour nap solution

Feed baby, put baby in car seat, take a four hour road trip (in hour case Riyad to Al Khobar). Be amazed and thankful for sudden gift of sleep.

Ponder about that ferris wheel in the middle of the desert halfway between Dammam and Riyad.

Baby Valentine

Personally I do not mark Valentine's day in any specific day. In Saudi Arabia anything Happy Valentine related is forbidden. I have even heard off the religious police snipping off the flowers of a bouquet of roses that a neighbour's husband had bought for her!

But I could not resist this baby onesie from Gap. Let's hope that the religious police do not strip her off her shirt ;)

I hope you all have a wonderful day, whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not!

2012 - The year of the family

2012 was indeed a year of the family, not only did we add to our own by welcoming a little baby girl, but we also got to spend lots of time with our parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, cousins and lots of other relatives. I have to say that I use the term family very loosely and in my understanding of the word I also include lots of my wonderful friends. We are blessed with such great friends both near and far, I have said it before but I will say it again, many of them are so close that we consider them family!

Here is a look at 2012 in pictures, oh what a year it was...

2012 kallar jag för familjens år. Inte bara för att vi själva blev stolta föräldrar till en underbar lite flicka, utan också för att vi kunde tillbringa en hel del tid med en massa släktingar, föräldrar, syskon, mostrar och fastrar, kusiner mm. Sen ska jag tillgga att jag använder uttrycket familj väldigt generöst, jag inkluderar också en hel drös av underbara vänner i denhär kategorin. Vänner som bor både nära och fjärran, och som vi anser vara en del av vår familj!

Här får ni en titt på vårt 2012 i form av ett bildkollage, vilket år det var...

January - enjoying the winter weather in Finland
Januari - Njöt av vintervädret i Finland

February - Visiting my husband's brother in Canada. Who knew that my better half would be such an ace on skates?
Februari - På besök i Kanada hos min mans bror. Jag hade aldrig kunnat gissa att min bättre hälft skulle vara en sån rackare på att skrinna!

March - Enjoying the outdoors in Saudi Arabia before summer kicks in. I was very pregnant and very over it at this stage
Mars - Passar på att njuta av vädret innan sommaren slår till! Men jag var mycket gravid (tyckte jag då) och tyckte att det sku kunna vara dags snart!

 

 

April - Celebrating our niece's birthday
April - Vi firar vår systerdotters födelsedag

May - off to the hospital to have a baby, yay!
Maj - dags att checka in på sjukhuset, de e dags att vräka babyn :)

June- so in love with our baby girl
Juni- kärleken och babyn växer varje dag

July - Taking a bazillion photos of our little darling, also trying to get the perfect shot for her passport
Juli - massor av bilder tas av lilltjejen, i synnerhet som vi försöker få till ett acceptabelt passfoto

August - The first trip avec baby, we are in Medina
Augusti - första resan med babyn, vi besöker Medina

September - Off to Finland, a pram form the 80's induce the best naps ever
September - I Finland, en Emmaljunga från tidigt 80-tal där lillflickan sover många, LÅNGA tupplurar

October - Both big and small suffer from a cold, I medicate mine with buckets of coffee
Oktober - Flunssa för både liten och stor, min medicineras med mycket kaffe

November - We are mezmerised by the magic that is Scotland
November - Vi är fulla av beundran på vår resa genom Skottland

December - More family time spent in Canada in freezing temperatures. And no, baby # 2 is not on the way
December - Kalla vinterdagar tillbringas tillsammans med familjen i Kanada. Nej, rocken gömmer inte en babymage!

Red Bull Baby?

Maybe this kid is getting Red Bull instead of milk. She's slept half an hour since she woke up at 7.30 this morning. So technically she should be very tired by now. This is what greets me when I look over towards the cot :)

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Kanske dethär barnet får i sej Red Bull istället för mjölk. Sovas ska det i alla fall inte... Det verkar vara mycket roligare att gå runt längs kanten på sängen!

EY141

Greetings from Toronto! It may "only" be a 14 hour flight from the Middle East, but it does get interesting when you add an infant to the mix. An infant that feels that sleep is unnecessary because she much rather charm the socks of the flight attendants and our fellow passengers.

So we landed in Canada with bloodshot eyes and a broken suitcase. We also rubbed shoulders with some Saudi royals during the flight (my husband quite literally as he was sitting next to the young prince), but they were traveling so low key that we only realized as we were getting off the plane!

A word on advise

I have no idea what she is trying to do here...

 As a first time mum I suppose it is quite natural that I am clueless about quite a few things, but there is always someone around to provide help and guidance. While any sort of advise from someone with at least a little bit more experience is much appreciated, it can also be a bit too much sometimes. It actually already starts during pregnancy with people offering their opinions (and warnings) about what to do or not to do. But let's not go there.

The best and worse of advisers are usually the grandparents of the baby. Our own parents seem to feel that any advise they give us should be meticulously adhered to. They probably think that they cannot be wrong, because, as they like to point out "you turned out okay, didn't you?"

People will give you advise on everything: how to dress, hold or carry the baby, when to feed, what to feed (especially when it comes to the introduction of solids), the list is endless. Some people might feel very strongly about something and they can get a bit too passionate trying to share their knowledge. It all gets even more confusing when people are giving conflicting advise.

Recently I have gotten a fair share of advise on the topic of starting solids. I chose to breastfeed our daughter exclusively for the first six months, something that seems incomprehensible by most people. I had my reasons for this choice, but I will not go into that now. The problem is that some people made me feel like I am depriving our daughter of something by delaying solids. The ideas that the baby must be given certain foods at a certain age, so that she gets enough energy, gets to taste yummy foods etc.

At approximately 6,5 months I feel that our daughter has had plenty of exposure to different foods, but how much she is eating is a whole different story. I hope I'll be able to tell you a bit more in detail about starting solids in another post, I have just used it as an example and I hope I haven't gotten too far off my original topic :)

My advise to the people giving advise (haha): share your experiences and what you know, but keep in mind that all babies and children are different, one solution might not work for everyone. Also all parents are different and there are sometimes different ways to get to the same goal. New research is being done all the time, hence what was the norm ten, fifteen or thirty years ago might not apply at all today.

My advise to those parents who get their fair share of other people's opinions, hints and tips: pick and choose. I believe that the baby's parents know the child the best, regardless of how inexperienced they may be, and sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling. Some of the advise you get will be priceless, other things might not feel right and then it's probably best to pass on that.

I am fortunate to have lots of friends and family around me that are very helpful and supportive, all of them in their different ways. I do like to point out that this post is in no way meant to criticize anyone. I am grateful for all the advise (past, present and future), but at the same time I hope that people will understand that sometimes I might opt to go a different way, my own way.

'Tis the season... for teething

The moment I have been waiting for the way some people wait for Christmas, our daughter's first tooth. Ever since she started drooling like a maniac a little over a month ago i have been expecting that first tooth to come any second! So last Friday, there you go, a tiny but hard little lump on the bottom gum! other than suffering from the mother of all diaper rashes, she has been her usually sunshiny little self!

I'm just wondering, is it normal to be so excited about your child's first tooth, or is it just me?

Nu är väntants tider förbi, vår dotters första tand har sett dagens ljus! Det är nog ännu bara några hårda små knottror som knappt syns, men en tand i alla fall. Hittills har tandsprickningen gått bra, hennes humör är på topp som vanligt. Enda sidoeffekten är ett obehagligt blöjeksem som tom. gav upphov för en liten läkarvisit, men det är nu också på bättringsvägen.

Är det normalt att man blir så till sej av barnets första tand? Eller är det bara jag? Jag antar att dethär är ett typiskt "första barnet" syndrom, det lugnar väl ner sej sen...

The day everything changed

The entry to my hospital room
Ingången till mitt rum på sjukhuset

Today marks exactly six months since the birth of our beloved daughter. Like any new parent I can tell you that those months have flown by. There has been tears, crying, sleepless nights and more laundering than I ever thought possible. There has also been smiles and laughter and most importantly, there has always been love. Me and my husband feel eternally blessed for this gift that we waited for so long.

I have scheduled this post to come online at 4.38 am, the time our daughter was born (just in case anyone wonders about the wird hours of the day that I seem to spend blogging).

Idag är det exakt se månader sen vi välkomnade vår älskade dotter till världen. Ett halvår som har gått i ett huj. Månader som har fyllts med skrik, tårar, sömnlösa nätter och ofantliga mängder med byk. Men dagarna har också fyllts av leenden, skratt och viktigast av allt, kärlek. Vår dotter är en gåva som vi väntade länge på, det går inte i ord att beskriva hur tacksamma vi är.

Dethär inlägget kommer att komma upp på bloggen klockan 4.38 på morgonen, samma klockslag som vår dotter föddes.

No hard feelings

Our daughter is nearing her 6 month birthday. That meant that another round of immunizations were due. Some crying was to be expected and this time was no different. But the crying did not last long and when we left the treatment room our little girl actually smiled at the nurse, as if to say that she is not holding a grudge against her!

Whatever works

To each their own sleeping style, I guess...

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Var och en har sin favoritställning, själv är jag en "sova på magen"-typ. Vår dotter kör sin egen variant!

Childhood memories

Our daughter really doesn't need another toy, but this Barbapapa rattle brought back memories from my own childhood so I had to buy it.

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Vår dotter behöver knappast fler leksaker, men denhär mjuka Barbapapa skallran påminde mej om min barndom så den bara måste följa med hem.

10 - 0

In the battle against maybe the sharpest baby nails in the world, I have come out victorious. 10 - 0. They will grow back in a few days...

Jag vann i kampen emot dom sylvassa babynaglarna, 10 - 0. Sen tar de ju bara några dagar så har dom vuxit ut igen...

Passport update

Since a few weeks ago we have in our possession this, our daughter's Australian passport. We have also gotten her Saudi residency permit as well as exit & re-entry visa (yes, over here you need a separate visa in order to leave and re-enter the country...) sorted so we are most definitely good to go!

As you might remember, the passport photo caused some headache, you can read about that here. In the end I managed to get a bunch of decent photos of our little girl, but I was still worried that the Australian authorities might find something to complain about... I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we received the passport!

Not much longer until it's time to pack the bags!

Vi har haft framgång med vår dotters passansökan, vi har faktiskt haft hennes pass i några veckor ren. Under den tiden har vi dessutom fått hennes uppehållstillstånd och ut- och inresevisum för Saudiarabien beviljade. De älskar all sorts byråkrati här, och för att göra livet lite svårare för alla utlänningar krävs ett skilt in- och utresevisum för att man ska kunna lämna landet...

Själva passfotot orsakade lite huvudbry, jag berättade om det här, men till slut så lyckades jag få ett antal vettiga foton tagna. Men man vet ju aldrig hur dom australiensiska myndigheterna tänker, så jag drog en stor lättnadens suck när vi äntligen fick passet i handen!

Nu är det snart dags att börja packa väskorna! Jag som älskar att hata allt som har med packande att göra!

The inadvertent baby whisperer

No too long ago I told you about our daughter's catnapping habit. This started happening the very same day that my husband left the country for a three week long business trip. He is now back and it seems that so is the usual daytime napping habit for our little girl. Today she took three long (approx 2 hours) naps and she is definitely a happier girl because of it. It has only lasted for a few days, it could be pure coinicidence - but I still like to call my husband the inadvertent baby whisperer.

Jag berättade tidigare om vår dotters plötsliga vana att sova väldigt korta tupplurar dagtid. Det började samma dag som min man åkte iväg på en tre veckors arbetsresa. Nu är han hemma igen och det verkar som om vår lilla flicka har hittat lite bättre sovvanor igen. Idag tog hon tre längre tupplurar (kring 2 timmar) och hon är genast en mycket gladare flicka. Visserligen har det bara gått några dagar, men jag är beredd att tro att min man har nåt med det hela att göra, utan att han egentligen försökt göra något alls...

Little Miss Catnap

Our darling daughter turned two months yesterday. We "celebrated" by going to the doctor for her immunizations. She did not cry for long, but her cry was loud. Can't be nice getting a jab in each thigh. But 10 minutes later it was all forgotten and she was fast asleep.

In other news, she has taken up the habit of catnapping during the day. None of her daytime naps are any longer than one hour, you could almost set the watch according to her sleep pattern! But she sleeps well at night, thank God for that, so I'm not too concerned about her daytime naps.

But why is it called catnapping, from my experience cats can sleep for hours on end!!!

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Igår fyllde vår älskade lilla dotter två månader. Det "firades" med ett besök hos läkaren för vaccinering. Det blev en spruta i vardera låret, och en ljudlig protest från vår lilla flicka. Men 10 minuter senare sov hon.

På tal om sömn så har hon lagt sej an vanan att sova korta, entimmes tupplurar på dagen. Man kan nästan ställa klockan enligt henne, hon vaknar så gott som alltid efter exakt en timme. Men hon sover bra på nätterna så jag försöker att inte stressa så mycket över hennes sovvanor dagtid...