Photo 366 challenge – week 7

A bit of a mixed bag of photos this week from me – some of Little O and some of the things I have seen. It has been a strange week really. Husband is coming to the end of his intense working period, which means he will finally be able to take some leave, for which I am incredibly grateful. Baby E’s first four weeks have not been the easiest, but I just glad that it was like this with him and not with Little O. I cannot imagine how I would have coped being largely on my own for four weeks with a first baby!

Day 44:

Photo © English Mamma

I’m trying to psych myself up to filling in this form to apply for Baby E’s Swedish passport. We have a slot booked at the police station to hand the forms over and get his photo taken on 5 March. So there is only so much procrastinating that I can do. (And then there is the joy of the British passport application after this…)

Day 45:

Photo © English Mamma

Not sure that they should really be recommending that people do this. (Although it has worked out well for Husband and I!) I got my Valentine’s wish today. I phoned Husband as he was on his way home and begged to know, over the sounds of a screaming Baby E and wailing Little O, when he would be home. He was two minutes away but planning a detour to buy me flowers. The flowers idea got shelved and he walked in the door two minutes later to rescue us – the perfect Valentine’s gift!

Day 46:

Photo © English Mamma

On Wednesday, I finally found the time to print out, write and post the thank you cards for Baby E’s gifts. I know I really should have done this sooner, but people will forgive me won’t they? After all, life can be a little, shall we say hectic, with a toddler and a newborn.

Day 47:

Photo © English Mamma

About an hour before I was due to pick Little O up from preschool, I had a call from them to say that he had a fever of 38 degrees and please could I collect him a little earlier. I bundled Baby E up in his snowsuit, into the stroller and jumped on the bus. By the time I got there, it was only half an hour before I would normally have collected him and it was snack time. We already knew that Little O loves his food but I really found out just how much. Despite a fever, he sat and ate three sandwiches and drank two cups of milk, while I waited for him, sweating in my winter coat. Two other little boys also had fevers and were awaiting collection; they both flopped their heads down on the table and one sobbed quietly. Not Little O – by the time he decided that he was ready to go home (at the time I would normally have collected him anyway), he also decided that he was well enough to run round and round the cloakroom seven times… Not too feverish then! Given how well he seemed, I took him to the hairdressers for a long-overdue haircut, as you might or might not be able to see in this photo.

Day 48:

Photo © English Mamma

One of Little O’s more unconventional sleeping positions!

Day 49:

Photo © English Mamma

As part of the toddler tantrums that have started recently (poor thing, he gets so incredibly frustrated that he cannot make us understand him), Little O is also showing his willpower. And this is what Little O was determined to wear yesterday afternoon. The fire engine/police car vest was something that he had grabbed in H&M and refused to let go of. We then had a little to-do at the till when, after explaining 12 or so times that he’d have to let go of it so I could pay for it, I had to wrestle it from him for an interminable 30 seconds while the girl scanned it and removed the security tag. I had not realised until yesterday just how loud Little O could scream. (He woke this morning and brought the same outfit to Husband to have put on him. Oh joy…)

Day 50:

Photo © English Mamma

Little O loves to return Baby E’s little pink elephant rattle to him if he has dropped it. It is moments like these that I cherish, when I see Little O being so gentle with his baby brother.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Take a look over at The Boy and Me’s site and see what she and others have chosen as their favourites of the week:

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

Photo 366 challenge – week 6

Really, week 6 already? That must mean it’s February, right? My days are in such a muddle now but I am sure that I will start to remember what day of the week, week of the month and month of the year it is soon.

Day 37:

Photo © English Mamma

This is the second time in the past week or so that I’ve spotted this taxi in the city centre. How great is this? He seems to charge the same as most other taxis. The only disadvantage that I can see is that it might not be quite as warm as a modern taxi (he is wearing a woolen hat after all). I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Citroen DS, so I was pretty excited when I saw this.

Day 38:

Photo © English Mamma

After a long day… although I really, really longed for something a lot little stronger at that point.

Day 39:

Photo © English Mamma

Back at Karolinska hospital for the fifth time in 18 days – this time back to Amningsmottagen – the breastfeeding clinic. I feel as if I know the place pretty well by now.

Day 40:

Photo © English Mamma

Every few days, after I collect Little O from preschool, we head to the Central Station and wave goodbye to the 15.17 train to Gothenburg. I found this train by accident but I like the fact that it has only four carriages: 1st class, 2nd class, a restaurant car and the one nearest to me when I took this photo, which, according to the symbols painted on the outside, is a cocktail and piano bar.

Day 41:

Photo © English Mamma

On Friday, we hit the 2-3 week growth spurt. I took this picture of Baby E finally (!) asleep after a feed. However, he had other ideas and woke up about four minutes after this was taken. Sleep was not the theme of the day…

Day 42:

Photo © English Mamma

Husband found a great new cafe not so far from us and so we decided to check it out on Saturday. Although it was small inside, we found that if we uncoupled the carrycot from the stroller and left the stroller outside, we could sit at the bar stools in the window with Little O on Husband’s lap and Baby E safely sleeping in the carrycot under the counter. The brunch was delicious – and I’m sure that Little O would agree!

Day 43:

Photo © English Mamma

Little O sometimes takes a very casual approach to drinking his bedtime drink!

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The Boy And Me has set up a great linky each week, so head on over there and check out some of the others’ pictures too:
TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

The Gallery – Me Right Now

So, I saw Tara’s prompt for The Gallery pretty early on (in fact, in the early hours of the morning) and got on with taking my photo entry immediately (but am cutting it pretty fine to add the post to her site!). The week’s prompt was: me right now. Tara wanted us to take a picture of ourselves at the time when we read what the prompt was. For me, this meant taking a picture at god knows what o’clock as I was feeding Baby E.

So, here’s my entry for this week’s Gallery:

Photo © English Mamma

Now, head on over to Tara’s site and check out some of the other entries for this week!

Photo 366 challenge – week 5

We’re starting to settle down not into a routine but into something that could begin to resemble one at some point! Little O is recovering from his cold and is happy again at preschool (we had a couple of days when he screamed and clung at drop-off time and was, according to the staff, “a little bit sad”) and Baby E seems to be getting over his colic episode (was it colic? who knows…) and is more settled for more hours of the day now.

This week was all about keeping Little O entertained, Baby E well fed and me as warm as possible!

Day 30:

Photo © English Mamma

Little O is so excited at the moment by lining toys up, balancing them on one another and making sure that everything is shipshape.

Day 31:

Photo © English Mamma

Baby E’s tiny little newborn feet.

Day 32:

Photo © English Mamma

Satisfied – Baby E catching a few zzzz’s after a feed.

Day 33:

Photo © English Mamma

Brothers – largely oblivious to each other at this point in the day!

Day 34:

Photo © English Mamma

Little O’s first successful sledge trip. This time last year it did not go as well as Little O was a bit too small and just could not stay upright on the sledge, and even with straps it did not work. This time, he squealed with delight for most of the time that he was in it. So much fun!

Day 35:

Photo © English Mamma

I think that this is one of the most attractive churches in the city centre. And against yesterday’s bright blue sky, I think it looks even more stunning.

Day 36:

Photo © English Mamma

A snowy scene on our way back from Little O’s swimming class today.

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

Photo 366 challenge – week 4

Going to be very brief again, as I’m quickly posting this while Husband has taken Little O to swimming and Baby E sleeps. Thursday and Fridays we had good nights with Baby E going as much as four hours between feeds, but last night we were back at only an hour and a half between. “Oh…”, I thought, “Must be the week one growth spurt.” But this morning, he managed to go three hours between feeds. So it’s back to waking our very sleepy baby every strictly two hours during the day and hoping that that will encourage him back into sleeping longer at night.

Day 23:

Photo © English Mamma

This one of the two baby bags that you get given at the hospital – one sponsored mainly by Pampers (this one) and the other mainly by Libero, which is one of the leading brands of nappies here in Sweden.

Day 24:

Photo © English Mamma

Some of the flowers that we have received this week. I love the colours of these and love even more how the colours have come out in Instagram (despite the photo being a bit grainy).

Day 25:

Photo © English Mamma

Little O at our local playground, cleaning up the snow (he’s inherited Husband’s cleaning obsession, I think!). Perhaps though it bodes well for a career as an Olympic curling champion?

Day 26:

Photo © English Mamma

Hmm, I had intended to read these two books last week while Little O was at preschool and I was awaiting our imminent arrival. However, Baby E had other plans, so back to the library these go.

Day 27:

Photo © English Mamma

Why? Why? Why? (Apologies for the picture quality but it was taken after the sun had set (ie around 4.30pm – sob!) and I just had to take the shot). They are bright pink bulldog money boxes with diamante collars…

Day 28:

Photo © English Mamma

A little bit of Duplo post-modernism from English Mamma and Little O – the chimney was all his own work and he was very proud of it).

Day 29:

Photo © English Mamma

Feeling a little bit like this today after the long night last night.

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

Photo 366 challenge – week 3

I’m just jumping online quickly to post these photos and then, I promise, that I am heading to bed to catch up on some sleep!

Day 16:

Photo © English Mamma

On Monday, it snowed and I managed to grab this from the cafe at the top of Fotografiska – a view over Gamla Stan (The Old Town) in the snow.

Day 17:

Photo © English Mamma

Two cheeky monkeys!

Day 18:

Photo © English Mamma

After preschool, Little O and I went to Gamla Stan to collect a TENS machine from the midwife. This is one of the side streets on Gamla Stan, the old centre of Stockholm.

Day 19:

Photo © English Mamma

Thursday was a day of hard-hitting news: “The most and least popular dog breeds in Stockholm”

Day 20:

Photo © English Mamma

At the supermarket Little O got to ride in the special car trolley. He was in his element. Little did we know at this point that the night was to take a very different turn…

Day 21:

Photo © English Mamma

Baby E was born at 00.01 on Saturday morning!

Day 22:

Photo © English Mamma

 

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

Photo 366 challenge – days 14 & 15

As I’ve started to post on The Boy & Me‘s weekly linky on Sundays, I’m trying to catch up on my Project 365 photos and then I am all up-to-date and can start posting all my photos weekly. So, here are the pictures from the weekend.

Day 14:

Photo © English Mamma

This is Mariatorget on Södermalm at dusk. The building on the right with lots of lights shining and with the flags hanging outside is Hotel Rival, owned by Benny Andersson from ABBA. I snapped this while Little O and I were heading to see some friends over here on a brief visit from London. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for about an hour as they have a beautiful, minimalist apartment here in Stockholm and the lovely items that they do have are all expensive and particularly attractive to a cheeky, sticky-fingered little 20-month old…

Day 15:

Photo © English Mamma

This morning, we took Little O to his first swim school class. Before, we’ve only done baby swim classes with him (levels 1 and 2) but we were advised to skip over baby swim level 3, owing to his age and as he’s happy in the water and go straight into swim school for 1-3 year olds. He was in his element in the water and the classes suited him a bit more as there were fewer songs and more playing around in the water – jumping from the side of the pool, going down a slide into the water and climbing up onto a floating mat. He’s the youngest in the class and has not yet learned how to jump in from a standing position but I think it will only be a couple of weeks before he is, as he spent much of this first lesson studying what the other littlies were up to.

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

Photo 366 challenge – days 9-13/366

So, here’s my round-up of photographs of the past few days. Some days I find it really easy to take a whole handful of photos and on others I struggle to get that daily shot. If you’re also doing the 365 project are you finding the same?

Day 9:

Photo © English Mamma

When I went to pick Little O up from preschool, he was keen to go on the bus (“Bus! Bus! Bus! Buuuuuussss!”) and as I didn’t have any toys in my handbag this time, I improvised and gave him the next best thing: a bus timetable. We then walked around the city while I ran a few errands and he was still clutching the timetable when we got home. In fact, even four-five days later he still picks it up and studies it.

Day 10:

Photo © English Mamma

Yes, we finally got a (very) little snow! Husband keeps on telling me that this year is a typical winter and that the winters of the past two years were actually the exceptions to the rule. But for me, this is Sweden, it should be cold and snowy and white here in the winter.

Day 11:

Photo © English Mamma

Shhh, don’t tell Husband!

Day 12:

Photo © English Mamma

Where’s Little O? We spent the afternoon cosying up at home, with tickling and bouncing on the sofa and hiding behind the cushions.

Day 13:

Photo © English Mamma

A beautiful bunch of flowers bought for me by my colleagues.

 

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

The Gallery – phone photos

Well, I am fully intending to get back into The Gallery game, which should be easier now that I’ve pledged to take a daily photograph. Tara’s prompt this week is phone photos. Well, this is one that I can manage! So, this is one that I’ve used in my Project 365/Photo 366 challenge in recent days but a photo that I am really proud of. I thought the original picture (which I took while we were walking home from the playground – would you believe it was just after 4pm… urgh, I hope the days get longer and lighter soon) was okay-ish but then I ran it through Instagram and turned it into this:

Photo © English Mamma

And this is why I ♥ Instagram.

And now head on over to Tara’s and check out the photos that others have contributed:

Photo 366 challenge – days 6-8/366

So, I checked out the 365 Project website and decided that it’s so easy to upload photos there that I will do that as well. But I still want to post my photos here, firstly as a record of the year and secondly, so that I can write a little more about what we’ve been up.

The past few days have been about the long weekend: Epiphany is a public holiday here in Sweden (although there is no specific celebration for it and most of the shops are open) and the Thursday before is a half day. So, Husband took Thursday off work and has been enjoying a four-day weekend (well, almost – he always heads into the office for a few hours on Sundays anyway) and I finished up work at lunchtime on Thursday and am now on maternity leave. I don’t think I’ll realise how strange it will feel again until sometime halfway through next week.

We’ve celebrated the long weekend with walks in the park, trips to the playground, brunch with friends and, for me, some big-time sales shopping!

Day 6:

Photo © English Mamma

This will probably constitute the only piece of relationship advice you’ll hear from me: if in doubt, choose the clean freak! Yes, Husband’s obsession with cleaning can be annoying from time to time, but the major plus is that by the time I have thought “Oh, it looks a little messy around here”, he has the vacuum cleaner out and is dusting the skirting boards.

Day 7:

Photo © English Mamma

Hello, belly! Putting my feet up after a morning spent (well, actually I only managed an hour) of sales shopping.

Day 8:

Photo © English Mamma

“Cars, cars, bilar (the Swedish for cars), bilar, cars” – that’s what I’m hearing hour after hour at the moment. Cars are the new thing, followed closely by “choo choos” (trains, sadly, and not Jimmy Choos…).

Click here to check out some others’ Project 365 photos in the linky that The Boy and Me has set up:

TheBoyandMe's 366 Linky

And here are my photos so far on the Project 365 site.

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