The Date

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We received the date for having Frida’s cleft palate closed in surgery a few days ago. For those of you who are new here, this post and this post tells you a bit more about Frida and her cleft palate.

  Hey Mom - I'm reading

March 30th is the date when we will be admitted to hospital with her, and the following day she will have the operation. I’m not the worrying kind, but receiving the letter did really bring it to the front of my awareness. Our beautiful little girl under anaesthesia, in the operating room – that does yield a few thoughts. Everything will be fine I’m sure, but I think it’s going to be a tough few days in the hospital.

 Hug

Right now we’re making a few preparations. At the time of the operation, she’s not allowed to be using either a dummy or a baby bottle – both of which we have been using this far. She loved her bottle of warm milk before bedtime up until a week ago – now we have replaced it with a little bit of warm milk in a cup. We dreaded getting her off the bottle, but it has been no problem at all – she still goes to sleep like a baby! Next up is getting her off the dummy – which I dread even more. Who knows – she may just surprise us. Does it all the time! :)

Our little one

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Playing - in her new overalls 

I have been wanting to write a bit about Frida. She’s 16 months now, and still our little one, but then again, she’s not all that little anymore. Her personality develops with every day that passes, and it is a joy to see! She really does light up a room and most of the time she’s just a bundle of joy! She has a will that surpasses several of those in the otherwise strong-willed people in this family, and she can definitely be a handful! Above you see her wearing the Puuheppa overalls – did I mention I love them?!

She walks now as her preferred choice of transport, but she didn’t give up crawling easily – still turns to that, when she finds it useful. Teaching her how to eat on her own is coming along slowly. It took our little handball player a while to stop throwing forks, plates, and cups (and anything else for that matter) through the air, whenever one was within reach. It’s almost under control now, and she does drink and eat on her own – when the food permits and it suits her…

Afternoon biscuit

And talking of playing handball – she is pretty good at throwing a ball, and sometimes she nearly even catches it when it’s thrown to her. We have been joking with her throwing everything, but it seems to be working, ’cause she’s rather good, and Ronja loves to play ball with her! Earlier it was sometimes hard to entertain her, but at the moment, she has become quite good at playing by herself for a while, concentrating on a toy or a book.

Looking out  More modeled pants

Getting older for Frida also means closing in on the palate surgery. As I have mentioned before, she has a cleft palate which is going to be closed in surgery when she’s approximately 18 months old. We don’t know the excact date, because they’re unable to give us a specific date earlier than about 3-5 weeks prior to the surgery. So during the coming two months, we need to get her off the night-bottle – she still has a small bottle of warm milk before she goes to sleep. And what’s worse, we have to wean her off the dummy! Good thing she’s so fond of her security blankets – that’s going to help us in the process.

Afternoon sky 

Meanwhile, she still sleeps like a baby during the night – and I know a lot of people to whom that would mean sleepless nights, crying, days of an unimaginable tiredness that only parents understand, etc. Not here though, in this house the term ‘sleeping like a baby’ covers sleep from 6.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m.

Altogether, she’s just one lovely little girl!

And the winners are…

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So alright – I’ll admit, I have been busy. With December 1st coming up, I’ve had my hands full – haven’t you?

Evening view 

 Getting ready for December 1st in this house means doing a lot of things. I have been making an Advent wreath (well actually, that was for today), a decoration for the Advent candle, a gift calendar for Ronja – Frida isn’t quite old enough for one with 24 gifts yet, so I made her an Advent calendar, with a small gift for each Advent Sunday. Also this weekend, Ronja attended a princess gala birthday party at a friend’s house – and I accidentally promised her a new dress for the big event. That ate up a few afternoons…

And of course, what’s also special about this year’s December 1st is that it’ll be my first day at work since Frida was born. Still trying to wrap my mind around that one – and I’m pretty sure that Mads feels the same way! He’s going to be taking care of Frida at home for the rest of the time until her surgery to close her cleft palate, which will take place when she’s around 1½ years old. We don’t have the excact date, but he’ll be SAHD (Stay At Home Dad) for probably 5-6 months. Exciting!

However, I have been stretching your patience – I know. Sorry about that! Since Ronja is in bed by now, Mads just played the role of the goddess of fortune – and a very pretty one too, if I may say - and he drew the following lucky names out of the hat:

Winner of the pattern #10015 is Tara at Learning from Chavah

Winner of the pattern #20039 is Jenny

Congratulations to the winners! And to those of you that didn’t win, thank you so much for all your sweet comments – please come back for the next give-away. I’m putting the next two patterns (a kids pattern and an adult pattern) up within the next week. I’ll also need to tell you about all the other stuff – the princess dress, the Advent calendar, the Advent wreath, Ronja’s recent snow experience, our trip to Gisselfeld Christmas market, Frida’s recent breakthrough – gee, I’m behind!

Guys – now December 1st is not coming up anymore – it’s here. I’m off to find my bed!  ;)

Big girl

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 1 year

On this day last year, Frida was born. She was 1 month early, and just so tiny and fragile. She was born with a cleft palate which meant that I was unable to breastfeed her, and basically, she gave us a few surprises when she made her entrance.

Today we celebrated her one year birthday, and I’m telling you, many words come to mind when you see her, but tiny and fragile are not among them.

So happy 

She’s the happiest little girl, with a contagious smile and a wonderful curiosity, and honestly, she doesn’t give us much trouble. She has been sleeping through the night since she was about 2-3 months old, she eats well, and she rarely complains about anything. When she’s a year and a half, she will have to undergo surgery to have her cleft palate closed, but until then we’re glad that it’s not bothering her.

This afternoon, we have had family visiting, and we have had such a nice day. Happy children, good company, birthday cake, wonderful presents, and beautiful weather! What more can you ask for?

So Frida -

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!!!

 

Sewing – and why it’s not happening at the moment

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For two weeks I haven’t been able to get any sewing done. The reason is simple: My otherwise wonderful baby has decided that sleeping during the day is not worth wasting time on. This is a new thing – and I have to be fair, because she sleeps all through the night. Since December, I believe we experienced one night of her waking up once. I know we can’t complain – that is just amazing!

Sleeping 

However, I cannot sew during the nights – that would be against my 1st rule of sewing: Don’t sew or prepare fabric when you’re tired! (This is a rule that I break frequently enough – proving the rule each time!) At the moment I feel like I spend all of my waking hours feeding her, changing diapers, doing laundry – mostly hers, or playing with her. Which is fine, I guess, that is what I’m here for – my sewing will just have to wait (and this is the frustrating bit) until she’s a bit more self entertaining. Or until she decides that a nap now and then during the day would be beneficial..  ;)

Yesterday, our application for prolonged leave due to Frida’s cleft palate was finally approved. This means that we will be able to take care of her at home until after the surgery (to close the opening in the roof of the mouth) that takes place when she is approximately one and a half years old. We were so happy, because this is what the doctors recommend that we do, and it means that her risk of getting infections will be much smaller than would be the case if she started in a nursery. Getting the approval has taken a while and involved an initial rejection, so this was a true relief to us.

Today, Frida and I are going to get the materials for the plastering of the house. It’s a lot, so I’m taking the trailer, and I’m just crossing my fingers that I won’t be needing to back the car with the trailer… :)

The girls and I will be gone for a few days – I’m taking them to visit my mother in Århus, in order to get us three out of the way while Mads is spending full days working on the house. That’ll be a good move, I think!

Back from the break

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After a few months break due to a bit of blog-technical difficulties, I’m going to give it a go again. The blog will look slightly different, so bear with me, if something comes out the wrong way at first. I have to find my feet – blogwise – again.

I don’t really know where to start.

Sewing for blog  

In January, I started to sew. It began, because I bought a dress for the shrovetide celebration at Ronja’s kindergarten. The dress had to be altered a bit, and after spending half a day altering and sewing tiny roses on it, I wanted to sew more. In the beginning, I was using the old Brother sewing machine which I inherited from my aunt, but quite quickly, it fell short, and I started looking to see if buying a new one would be possible. Currently, I’m sewing on a Pfaff 2027, which I found used at a really good price. I’m really happy with it – such a good purchase!

Then in March, my good friend Kristina wanted a new serger, and she wanted me to take over the old Singer serger, to see if I could make better use of it, than she had. So now I have a serger too – it did need a bit of looking into the tension dials, but now it’s working fine, and I’m so happy with it! It makes my sewing so much neater. I discovered the Ottobre Design Kids Fashion magazines, and I have been sewing lots of their clothes for the girls. I’m still in a learning process, but take a look here. 

What a charmer... 

Frida has taken some huge leaps in her development during the past few months. She is such a happy and wonderful girl – sleeping all through the night, eating (very) well, playing, laughing, and rolling from her back to her stomach. The latter she does all the time – we cannot place her on her back and expect her to stay that way for a few seconds – she rolls over immediately. She has one meal of rice cereal each day, and in spite of the cleft palate, she’s doing a great job with it. We started giving it to her about 2-3 weeks ago, and she’s eating almost like a pro now. Sometimes it finds its way up into the nose, then she sneezes and we have rice cereal all over, but it’s not that bad, and most of the time, she’s just so good at it! We celebrated her baptism on March 16th, and pictures from the wonderful day are available here.

This will have to do for now – I have much more to say, so there are going to be a bit of catching-up posting, but until next time!  :)