Clowns and Angels

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Yesterday, we all went to Fastelavn – you know, the thing I told you about the other day. And Ronja was indeed an angel – here she is on the wings.

On the wings 

On the wings  

Saturday I had been making an outfit for Frida as well – a clown costume to be exact. I based the costume on the Onion pattern 10009 that includes a pair of basic loose pants, and a blouse that buttons on one shoulder. I modified them a bit – the pants are meant for rib at the lining and at the ancles, but I decided that elastics in dotted casings would work better for my tiny clown. The blouse pattern is meant for a knit, and has a rib at the neckline – I switched it and went with wovens and a clown collar at the neckline. I covered the collar edge with bias tape, made from the same fabric as the collar. Then I embellished it with a tiny pocket and two flower-buttons.

A colourful clown 

I threw all kinds of colourful fabric in the pool; Michael Miller, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, and a bunch of other stuff - and above you can see how it all turned out. Below, you can see the caring big sister holding hands with the little clown, while they’re having their picture taken together with Ronja’s friends Emma and Ida.

Fastelavn 

The Fastelavn-party took place in a gym, and all the kids lined up in different lines according to their age, to beat the cat out of the barrel (this very traditional event at Fastelavn has got to make no sense to many of you – read more about it here - about halfway down). Ronja had fun with her friends, and although I think the experience was a little overwhelming to Frida, she found it exciting as well.

Afterwards, Frida and I went to meet with my mothers group. It has been quite a while since the last time, because we’re all working now – but we had such a nice time, and the kids are just growing up so quickly. It was great to see them all again, and to watch the children play! Frida was exceptionally tired when we went home, so she had herself a good long afternoon nap.

Friends from the internet

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I know I mentioned, that I love the internet – but I really do!

At the moment, Karen who has the wonderful blog My dharma…work in progress is visiting Denmark along with her husband and her beautiful daughter Ella. Karen and I got to know each other through the Ottobre English Sewing Group (which I described earlier here). Wednesday, we met up at Copenhagen ZOO to spend a rainy, chilly afternoon together. Once the girls were past their initial shyness, they seemed to enjoy each other’s company greatly - I love the way that language isn’t really a barrier to children, they chat away and apparently isn’t bothered much by the fact that they speak different languages. I translated a bit here and there, but actually they did pretty good without translation.

Looking at the lions 

When we got to the zoo, it was raining quite a bit, so we started out having lunch, snacks – and coffee for Karen and myself. Meeting someone that you have seen in pictures many times is so funny, and Karen and I had no problems finding something to talk about. After lunching we went to look at the animals, and from time to time, Ronja and Ella held hands, which was so sweet.

Holding hands 

Frida was awake during lunch, doing her best to charm Karen with a bunch of big smiles. Other than that she slept pretty much through the whole visit, only waking up when we were about to go home. Copenhagen ZOO is a big place, and we didn’t manage to see all that much of it, due to the weather and the children getting tired. However, we had a wonderful time, and I loved meeting Karen and Ella. It would have been great to have a fabric store or a sewing machine nearby, but that’ll be next time. :)  If you wish to read more, go here to read Karen’s blogpost about our day!

 Looking at the elephants

Karen and Ella brought two sweet little birds for Ronja and Frida, that Karen made them! The pink bird immediately turned into one of Ronja’s favourite things, and Frida enjoys walking around with her purple bird in the mouth – for some reason…

Birds

Meet Mr. Pumpkin

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Even though Halloween is not traditionally celebrated in Denmark, it has been gaining ground these past few years, and people have particularly taken in the tradition of carving pumpkins and placing them outside with lit candles to grin at passers-by.

Many would argue that the reason why it’s becoming increasingly popular, is that shops and grocery stores see an opportunity to boost sails (ooops, typo – should’ve been:) sales, but globalisation certainly has its share in it, and really, who cares – carving pumpkins is fun! :)

Carving

Ronja enjoys to eat the pumpkin meat while I handle the sharp knife. We offered Frida some as well, but she didn’t show quite the same enthusiasm. Mads took some pumpkin seeds to the kitchen and came back with the finished result half an hour later.

Salted pumpkin seeds

MMmmmmm – salted pumpkin seeds….. Yummy!

Checking out Mr. Pumpkin

We may not be as creative as some, but we love him all the same – and personally, I think he’s related to the guy we had visiting a few years ago! :)

Back from Greece – and I’m an aunt!

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I know - I’m not that fast, but we’re here! We got home very late Tuesday night – or perhaps I should say Wednesday morning. We did have a very nice trip to Greece – although it wasn’t one without challenges.

Greece mosaic 1 

The place was beautiful, and the beach was perfect and great for the children. We met lots of nice people, and had some wonderful food. However, Ronja came down with a high fever after a couple of days, and though it dropped a bit, it lasted for the rest of the vacation. She was amazingly brave and tried so hard to pretend that she was doing fine, when at the same time she wasn’t. It’s not much fun to be sick, when you’re on vacation.

Greece mosaic 2  

Besides this, we lived in a campsite, and the ground consisted of dirt and spruce needles from the pine trees. As you know, Frida just started crawling, and she’s drooling a lot because of her new teeth. It was very hot, and most of the time she only wore a diaper, which meant that because of the drooling and the crawling, we really mostly saw a tiny mudball, racing around covered in needles. I think she had lots of fun there, and she definitely enjoyed the sea.

Greece mosaic 3 

We did lots of bathing in the wonderful clear water, and we did relax – as much as the above conditions allowed. You can check out all the pictures from our vacation here. By the way, Ronja is fine now – the fever is completely gone, the light is back in her eyes, and I think it did her good to return to our small yellow house.

And now for something totally fantastic:

 

I’m an AUNT!

My brother Jakob’s wife Jolanda gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday. We’re going to Amsterdam to visit them next week, and we can’t wait! I think Ronja is pretty excited to see her little cousin Marlinde.

BIIIG congratulations to the new parents!

Midsummer Evening

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Monday evening was Midsummer Evening. This specific evening has always been a favourite of mine – I love the fact that we gather around bonfires throughout the country and sing “Midsommervisen” – the Midsummer song.

Bonfire of Midsummer Evening

Adults and children form circles around the bonfires to look into the fire, celebrate Midsummer, and enjoy the evening. The children stay up [way too] late, and so do their parents. I have always thought that the bonfire should be on a beach by the sea, but now that I’m becoming a part of this local community, I think we ought to support the local initatives. And even though the bonfire by the woods, behind the church didn’t last that long, the event had the perfect atmosphere – bringing together people from around the area. Before going, we had invited Rikke (from the mothers group) and Martin for strawberries from the garden, and later – after the bonfire – we sat talking at their place until it was rather late, and we went back to our place to put the girls to bed. Perfect evening in good company. It is so nice to have made new friends – and when they live 150 m away it just makes everything easier!

Køge Kirke Picture borrowed from Danish Wikipedia

Yesterday Frida and I went to psalm singing for mothers and babies at Køge Church for the first time. I wasn’t quite clear about this in my last post on the topic, so if you want a bit of details, see my answer for Sarah in this post. The priest is a young woman who is clearly very enthusiastic about making something good, so I was positively surprised. The acoustics at the church are perfect for singing children’s songs, and the church was warm and great for the purpose. We finished in a house adjacent to the church, feeding the babies and having a cup of coffee. I’m definitely looking forward to next time, and I think Frida enjoyed it as well!

This past weekend was spent at some good friends’ wedding in Funen – which is also the reason why I haven’t posted anything in a few days. They were married Saturday, and it was a beautiful wedding. While Ronja stayed at Mads’ mother’s place, Frida came along for the wedding, and she was such a well-behaved baby. Still, I think Frida as well as Ronja need a few days with a little less action, returning to more normal bedtimes. Below you see a picture of the couple and the very nice Jaguar that transported the newlyweds from the church.

Line and Bubi's weddingday

Frida – so now there’s 4 of us!

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Two weeks ago, Ronja, Mads, and I had been to Ronja’s swimming lesson. On the way home we had something to eat, and well at home, I read Ronja a bedtime story, while Mads made tea and prepared Ronja’s lunch box for the next day. I had only just kissed Ronja goodnight when the water broke - well over a month early. Thus surprised, we alerted the grandmothers and packed a bag for the hospital. 11:15 p.m. Mads’ mother arrived, and at midnight Mads and I were at the hospital. After several examinations, Mads and I had a few hours sleep in the hospital, waiting for the labour to start. About 10 hours later, our beautiful little Frida saw the light of day at 11.48 a.m. September 28th after a good birth without complications – though rather well attended because of her being a bit early.

We spent a week in the hospital – the first two days in the neonatal intensive care unit, partly due to her early birth, partly due to the fact that she has a cleft palate. Anyhow, they wanted to make sure, that she would be able to eat and breathe as she should. After two days we were moved out of neonatal, but they still wanted to keep her in the hospital to make sure she gained weight. Finally she had to have light therapy for two days as a treatment for jaundice – at this point I really wanted to go home, because even though Mads and Ronja came to visit for a few hours every day, the days in the hospital seemed terribly long, and a little bit lonely, with hours of just looking at the tiny baby in the light box next to me.

Last Thursday we were let loose and it was SO good to finally be home. Ronja was understandably rather confused while Frida and I were in hospital, and from the moment we were home she was much more balanced. She is definitely a very proud big sister!

Because of Frida’s early arrival, we were far from ready for the baby at home when we left for the hospital. My maternity leave had not yet started when the water broke, and all the preparations that I had planned for the remaining month had not yet been made. So while I was in hospital, Mads had been busy, preparing as much as he could, finishing the work in Frida’s room, finding the necessary baby gear etc. I was really happy to find that the house was ready for the baby when we got home. We would have liked to have the living room repainted (and a bit more than that) before the new family member’s arrival, but that’s something we’re going to have to do some other time. Pictures of Frida (and the rest of us) are found here.

Speaking of the house, I should mention that what needs to be done upstairs now, are final touches. The bathroom and Ronja’s room are finished, and only a few things need to be done in Frida’s room. The hallway is finished, so except for the staircase everything is pretty much done! You can see the updated gallery here – pictures from Frida’s room will be there when it is finished.

Now we’re slowly getting used to being a family of 4. When Ronja was born, Mads planted a tree in the garden – what we call the Ronja-tree. Last weekend, Ronja and Mads bought a tree for Frida, which they planted when they got home, so that she too can have her own tree.

At the moment Frida is sleeping here next to me – we should probably follow suit soon.

Big sister to be – and a deadline

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I put Ronja to bed a while ago. She stopped using her soother 10 days ago, and the last three days she has been sleeping like a baby when we’ve put her to bed. So except for the first week, it really wasn’t so hard. She doesn’t ask for the soother anymore, so I think we can safely call that project a success!

We have a few changes coming up in the house on Lille Stationsvej, since Ronja is going to start kindergarten in the middle of June (which she is looking sooooo much forward to) – and furthermore – the big change – for those who don’t know yet, she is going to be a big sister at the end of October! (The t-shirt she is wearing in the picture to the right says “Jeg skal være storesøster”, or in English “I’m going to be a big sister”) Very exciting! We went to a scan at Roskilde Hospital in the middle of April, and at that time everything looked fine. I’ll try to remember to post pictures from the scan sometime soon.

We’re all excited to add one more member to the family, and Ronja is showing a great interest in the event. She doesn’t seem impatient at all, as you might expect, but rather well understanding, that the baby needs to grow before it enters the world.

As a natural consequence, Mads and I have become very aware, that we need to make something happen upstairs, so that our bathroom – as well as the other rooms – will be finished before my little passenger arrives. The last month has been rather slow on the rebuilding, to say the least. Mads has been very busy at work, he has been to Los Angeles for a week, and we have had several other doings. When you’re working on the house in your spare time, you really need to ensure that you have some – at least in order to see a progress. So now we’re trying to get focused again. You will find the almost updated photo album from upstairs here.

This past weekend we had Jolanda and Jakob visiting from Amsterdam, which was really nice, since we haven’t seen each other for quite a while. We relaxed and had a good time in which, among other things, we went to Bakken and Holmegaard Glassworks.

Vejers Strand and a sad occasion

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Ronja, Sara and the song book

This week has been busy, and now, Friday night, we are really enjoying the fact that the weekend has finally arrived.

We had a very nice weekend a week ago, though. We went to Vejers Strand near Vesterhavet with Mads’ mother and his family from his father’s side. We spent the weekend with walks by the sea, great food, and great company – and of course the essential game of Trivial Pursuit that makes everybody wonder if he or she should go back to preschool. Ronja brought with her a song book that was very popular during the two days – in the picture Sara is singing to her completely consumed little listener. ;o) More pictures can be found here.

Last Thursday my grandmother died – she was 93 years old, so I guess you could say it shouldn’t be completely unexpected, but nevertheless she was a fantastic person, and everyone who knew her, will miss her terribly. The funeral was Wednesday, and we had a very nice day in spite of the sad occasion.

Now the next big thing is coming up – I only have a week left at IDG, before I start my new job at VIA Travel. But more about that next time.

For those of you who would like to be notified of updates, I have made a sign up-link at the top of the side bar. Feel free to use it. ;o)