Red riding hood romper

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I love that post title – Red riding hood romper! Try saying it again, really tasting the r’s – rrrred rrriding hood rrromper… OK – I’ll move on!  ;)

For those of you who haven’t heard, my computer crashed some days ago. And I mean crashed – Mads tried several approaches with a boot CD over a couple of days, and luckily last night after numerous attempts, he got it to breathe again. He made my day! So if I have neglected you or your blog, that’s why!

Some of you will be aware, that I also suffered a total melt-down, sewingwise. On Friday morning I had a bit of perfect sewing time – Frida was asleep in the pram, Mads and Ronja were out, I had a pile of delicious new fabric that had just arrived in the mail, and I did NOT know what to make. I decided to turn to the always helpful Ottobre English Sewing Group and go with the advice of the majority. So I made another romper from the same Ottobre pattern, since Frida is wearing the last one a lot.

Red riding hood romper - mosaic

It was late Friday evening before I got it done – after my melt-down Frida was awake, and my perfect sewing moment had passed, so I had to wait until the evening. As always, sewing when I’m too tired means redoing a thing or two, but I won’t bore you with the details… ;)

Like I mentioned last time, I wanted to make some modifications to the front pocket, so I did. This pocket is bigger, and I like the overall proportions much better this time – and then I added the tag as a funny detail. I didn’t make an appliqué, because I think the wonderful Kokka-fabric delivers as much action as this romper can hold. I love the fabric – it’s a lovely linen-cotton blend – perfect for baby garments. The fabric for the lining is dots by Moda – which were also used for the Tie-back tunic, that I made for Ronja (description of the making of that one is found here).

For my next sewing project, I hope the inspiration will come easier – however, I do like this romper a lot!

A mighty fine day

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This morning, Mads got up with the girls, and let me sleep until 7:30!! Now, what could possibly go wrong after that?

A leaf on the Katsura tree

It has been a rainy day.  We have all been at home – taking it easy and not doing anything unnecessary. Ronja’s good friend from the kindergarten, Emma, has been visiting, and with those two girls, no entertainment from grown-ups is required – they have so much fun, and all they need us to do is leave them to it – brilliant! Just before dinnertime, I took Emma home, and Ronja was inconsolable – she missed Emma even before she had left the house, and just wanted to go with her. Well, well – we’ll just have to make another appointment with her parents…  :)

For the first time today, I succeeded in persuading Frida to eat dark bread with liver paté (my bet is, this word doesn’t quite cover the Danish ‘leverpostej’, but I have to translate), and she seemed to like it a lot! With her cleft palate, the bread is a bigger challenge than it usually is for babies her age, so I was just cheering on the sideline – it’s quite a leap for her!

After we finished dinner, Ronja was dancing on the sofa singing the Alicia Keys song “No One”. She has only heard it a few times on the radio, but she sings the lyrics of the chorus quite well – in spite of it being in a language that she doesn’t yet understand, much less speak… I thought she should hear it “for real”, so I found the song on YouTube, and we all watched the music video – ehm – 4 times! Ronja loves it!

After the girls had been put to bed, I went out in the garden to weed under the hedge. It has been somewhat neglected for a while, and now that we had so much rain today, I thought that it would be easier – at the same time, I really wanted the hedge to benefit from the rain – not the weeds. I was soaked when I stopped a bit later. It wasn’t raining anymore, so it was merely a result of having had my head in the hedge for well over an hour…

Otherwise, the weather doesn’t really encourage you to spend much time in the garden at the moment, even though I do love the smell of  newly fallen summer rain! Below are the abandoned oil lamps between the puddles on the garden table.

Nevertheless, this has been a mighty fine day. Tomorrow, I think I want to find some nice fabric in my stash to transform into something for Frida…

Abandoned oil lamps on the garden table

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

Two teeth and a romper

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Frida had her first two teeth yesterday. She likes it symmetric, I guess - can’t have the mess of getting one tooth at a time. And well, ever since yesterday, she has been attacking her food in stead of just opening her mouth. When the spoon approaches, she throws herself forward in the chair, biting the spoon when it enters her mouth. She doesn’t get the target right every time, though, and oat meal in one eye isn’t all that pretty…  ;) I don’t know if the teeth make her believe that she is a predator that has to attack and bring down the porridge before she eats it – but anyway she looks hilarious, and I have a good laugh while feeding her!

Girl's romper - mosaic 

So this morning I finished a girl’s romper that I started sewing yesterday. And it really is a girl’s romper – very girly fabric from Sandi Henderson and a sunflower appliqué on the back – which I’m totally thrilled about. I wanted it to be cheerful and colourful, and I think I achieved that! I left out the frills, since they’re not very much my style. The romper is from the Ottobre issue 03/07, and I really like the way it turned out! The only thing I’m not so fond of is the front pocket – the shape isn’t quite as it should be, because I didn’t manage to get the edge at its bottom rounded enough. Furthermore, if I were to make this pattern again, I think I would make the pocket slightly bigger, so that the proportions were nicer. Otherwise I would just use a decorative tag instead – like the example given in Ottobre for the boy’s model.

Frida modeling the girl's romper 

I meant for the romper to be used for all this warm weather we have been having, so naturally today it isn’t warm at all, and it’s really windy… It fits her perfectly, but a good thing is that it’s expandable by two extra buttons – it’ll last a while yet before she outgrows it. I definitely recommend this pattern!

Please be seated

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“Sitting is a rest position supported by the buttocks or thighs where the torso is more or less upright. There are several ways for humans to sit.”

Quote: Wikipedia, article “Sitting”

Frida - sitting 

Some babies spend a while learning how to sit upright. I believe, Frida started wondering a week ago whether she might be able to use that position for anything, and I think she decided 2 days ago, that it just might come in handy. Today she has been sitting all day. Well – not all day, of course, but you know…

A bit of a late starter (perhaps her early birth holds part of the explanation for that), but she knows how to make a decision and stick with it!  ;)

Oh yes, and by the way – she was 8 months old yesterday.  :)

8 years

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It has been 8 years since Mads was the stranger who offered me a lift across the country to go to a mutual friends’ birthday. Today, Mads brought me back 8 red roses when he returned from work, and now they’re standing on the window sill, lightning up the room!

8 years 

 I spent part of the day going trough the clothes that Frida outgrew. My brother and his wife are expecting their first child in August, so I’m going to send them what I think will pretty much amount to a full wardrobe for their first born. :)   The first size we used for Frida was size 44, because of her premature birth – I’m skipping that one and moving straight on to 50. On the other hand, they’re both really tall, so maybe I should pack 56 as the first size – or even 62? Frida is in 68 now – she may just be passed by her new cousin. Whatever, I’ll just pack a lot of nice things for them. ;)

Exit Christmas – Enter 2008!

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The Christmas Tree

Yesterday the Christmas tree left the living room. With dignity – not many needles were lost during its stay here. The tree was brought home by all 4 of us in the beginning of December. It has been the first Christmas that we have hosted, so of course we wanted to try and do it as well as possible – trying to honour each family’s traditions. I think everything went well, and we had a really nice Christmas eve here with the entire family. In the evening of the rather passive 1st of January we lit up the tree again to enjoy it once more before I escorted it outside.

And now we have some space here again – the living room is not quite big enough for a tree that size. Speaking of that – we did also have this kind of crazy project with the living room in the middle of December. All the furniture was removed from the room, as the ceiling and walls were painted and the floor was oiled. We had our meals up in Frida’s room, and the girls and I stayed mainly upstairs, when we were at home. Well, well – I’m not going to say much about it, except it was finished in time for Christmas – and I’m glad it’s done!

So it’s 2008.

Frida

Frida is doing pretty good, gaining weight as she should and each day becoming more active and curious. She discovered her feet a few days ago and they have been the big hit. Other than that the hero-status still belongs to the jumping mouse above her changing table, and the racing bees above the bed. Not forgetting the big sister! All the before mentioned have a good chance of collecting a smile or even an enthusiastic laugh from Frida – Mads and I still have to work quite a bit harder to be rewarded with that kind of gesture. ;) (Link to more pictures of Frida is found in the navigation bar to the right.)

Undercover

Ronja returned to kindergarten yesterday after our Christmas holidays, and the change in rhythm was much needed. Her boring old folks are definitely not enough entertainment for her, so it was great to see how she ran off with her friends as soon as we arrived at the kindergarten. The picture of her that I have posted is actually one that Mads took in October when we went to Vallø with Jolanda and Jakob – I just think it’s a really nice shot!

Today I met with my mothers’ group which is always nice. I think today was the 4th time we met, and we just always have a really nice time together. We seem to have loads to talk about (not just the babies…) and they’re all really nice. Also it’s a great way to get a network in a town where you don’t know too many people. The children are quite similar in age as they were born over a period of a month and a half. Frida is the 2nd oldest, but she is still the smallest of the babies because of her early birth. However, I’m sure she’ll catch up!

In general, there are many more pictures on my Flickr account. I just haven’t gotten around to posting the galleries here yet – I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

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.