Kid Free Week and I have forgotten about blogging!

It's been a long time since I have blogged, I think a lot of that comes down to the fact we have been kid free this entire week!
It is a very rare thing to happen, I can't remember the last time we have been singletons for this long, so we have been living it up doing a whole lot of... everything and nothing ;)

Start of the week we got our original painting from the lovely Ania Tomicka! She had shared this in an art group we are a part of as a simple practice piece, but I loved it and we decided to make it ours <3 We took it to Drewex in Malmö - where I buy all of my art supplies - to get her framed up. We went for the frame on the right!

poor teddy... :( maimed by sugar

In the evening we went on a "date" night out to the movies! Before we stopped by a cute little coffee shop by SF Books where we had been perusing the comics and board games where I got the cutest teddy bear cappuccino! Forgot to take a picture of the poor thing before I dumped sugar on his head -_- We saw the new 300 movie - which was you know... a guy film. Sex, blood, and six packs.

For Jack, Dharma, & Liam

A bunch of clothes I ordered from Zalando arrived for the kids this week as well - just a bunch of spring stuff since the weather is slowly but surely turning. What I love about Zalando's is they have a lot of really nice brands which don't, surprisingly, break the bank!

Kids game? Pffhh...

 We went to Webhallen on Thursday (best price in Sweden for Skylanders!) to pick up a few new figures for our Skylanders game. Spent the whooolle night playing and then passed out :P I know it's technically a kids game but gosh is it fun ;)

And finally, on Friday, we headed back into Malmö - went to the Systembolaget (the only shop in Sweden where you can buy booze) and got a lovely bag and box of wine from South Africa. That was meant to go with.....

This epic board game :P It was a bit expensive. Well, for a board game I felt very expensive. We got it at Playoteket Center for 649 kr ($100) - but it is a very complicated and intricate game. You can even level characters! But I think it looks like a fabulous game for a gaming night with friends. Richard has been learning how to play and be the "Overlord" (kinda like a Game Master) so we will give it a go tonight :)

Until then he is in the kitchen painting the miniature figurines you use in the game :) Talk about ultimate nerdom! Love it.

Selfie from our date night!

Chilling out on our Friday evening together <3

And that is all! In 24 hours the kids start rolling back in and the week to commence will once again be about school runs, scheduled meals, after school activities and all that good family stuff ;)

Until then though! Enjoying being free ^_^

Spring has come to Sweden!

I know it has been a long time since my last post. I am not too sure what has kept me from posting, never being around my phone cable so I can post photos? Or that I have been painting so much during my free time? It is hard to say, but one thing is for certain  -spring has arrived in Sweden!

On Sunday night my step kids came back. They spend a week at their mom's then a week over at our house. And! On Monday there was no school due to planning! Dharma went back to her mom's to film some kind of movie (question mark over that one) but I had the boys to myself...and it was just wonderful outside. So! We went to the park!

Jack on the left, Liam on the right - chowing down breakfast

The thing I like the most about this park is the zip line. It is a bit of a walk from our house, about 20 minutes on foot (I don't drive currently) but it's always worth it just for the sake of the zip line!

It was about 12 degrees Celsius outside which is about 53 degrees Fahrenheit. Back in my youth when I grew up in Maryland that would have been freezing. Pretty much winter. Now, after living in Sweden and Europe in general - it felt so so warm and lovely.

We broke out the spring jackets and I stuffed the snow pants into a box downstairs. This week has felt like such a nice transition into spring. We walk to school in the morning at 7 am in pure sunlight. It makes all the difference!

The boys! Liam - 6 ½ years old Jack 5 ½ years old

That evening I also worked some magic in the kitchen making home made burgers on crusty italian white bread. I made a home made sauce made out of mayonnaise and grated red beets as well as homemade french fries. It was like food heaven!

Now, a few days later - it is Wednesday. I have been working on bringing one of my black and white paintings from monotone to full of color. It is always a long and stinky process as I have to use the fast drying mediums with the oils. But! Lucky for me I can leave the door open now to let lots of fresh air in here!

Also, going to be picking up one of the first gifts to arrive for Dharma's birthday next almost exactly 1 month! She's going to be 9!
Hope all of you are having as sunny and wonderful a week as us :)

B6 Vitamins & Nostaliga

A few days ago I came across a vitamin which was apparently meant to help with conception - B6.
I must say I was super intrigued, as it is meant to help with regulating hormones in your body and making healthy reproductive bits :P
Problem is, it wasn't a vitamin that they sold pure off the shelves of the pharmacy here in Sweden.

So I made a little compromise. I got Magnesium with Vitamin B6 in it ;) It may not be the huge dosage you may have to take of the vitamin for it to make a huge difference, but it is 100% of the RDI and Magnesium was one of the girl-sway supplements so...kill 2 birds with one stone here!

Yesterday I went into nostalgia mode, which I am still kinda floating around in. I had discovered a video of Liam when he was 2 years old running around trying to hug a duck... and it just hit me how fast time had gone by. It was overwhelming!

So I picked him up a bit early so we could go shopping and have a cooking fest together.

He is a bit sick, poor thing, so he looks awfully run down. But I did a bit of work, while he did his homework and then we got to cooking! I wanted to make a nice spaghetti bolognese... with fresh ingredients! The type that takes a few hours to get just right ;)

We started off frying up some bacon, red onions, carrots, garlic, and a few herbs. I was dubious about adding carrots into a bolognese but honestly it cooks so long you'd never even know these things were in there (texture wise!).

Liam was my little helper. He peeled the carrots and helped me stir the pot! He does really enjoy cooking :P

The end results were absolutely delicious, I loved it. And even better, from those simple ingredients we got tons of left overs - which in this house is always appreciated!

The face of approval! It took us a little over 2 hours from start to finish and we had a great time making it. It was nice having proper home cooked food again, as we have had so much take away recently on our trip up to Skövde and before that as well!

I wanted to post the duckie video but it honestly was taking way too long to load - so I a just going to wrap up this episode and look forward to Friday night now - movie night with the kiddo! I want to watch Frozen and see what all the fuss is about so, see you then ;)

AF Came - TTC Month #4 Begins

As the title sadly describes, despite many strange symptoms over the past 2 weeks, yesterday AF (Auntie Flo) came. Thus begins the 4th month of trying to conceive a baby.

I was pretty disheartened yesterday. So many things start running through your mind as to why it is taking so long, what all those symptoms could've meant, what could be wrong... But I bucked up, cuddled Richard and watched Modern Family (my feel good show) and thought about all the things I could do now that I knew I wasn't pregnant. It was an idea I saw on a forum a little while ago and I thought it was a really great way to try and take your mind off this month's turn of events.

1. Create an exercise plan.

I did afterall get those running shoes for a reason. I have gained a considerable amount of weight since coming off the pill. Not to mention last cycle I ate non-stop! So I can definitely see changes in my body already and no baby as an excuse :P

I have googled a good beginners running program, downloaded a bunch of upbeat music and feel ready to start improving my body!

Can't hurt with the baby making anyway right?










2. Have a glass of wine - guilt free.

This was a big worry when visiting family up in Skövde - can you have a glass of wine during the 2 week wait? I know doctors tell you to avoid alcohol while TTC, but honestly I don't think a glass of red wine in the evening will do me much harm at the moment. At anything it should help ;) I hope soon there will come a time where I won't be able to drink for 9 months+ (I plan on breastfeeding!) so I might as well enjoy that glass of wine now while I can.

3. Concentrate more on painting.

There's a small work in progress shot of the painting that's on my easel right now. Not only is painting my job but it is also very therapeutic for me.
Since the 2 week wait this past cycle my mind has been so cramped and full I haven't been able to concentrate the way I should be on my painting.
Spending more time with my paints and less time focusing on symptom spotting will definitely make the next month go by a lot smoother and easier!








4. Carry on blogging!

Seeing all the things we do with our family, spending time with the kids, keeping a record, and getting my mind out on virtual paper is a very healthy positive thing! All of which can be done without morning sickness and a foggy brain.


These are some of the things I want to do while I go through round 4 of TTC. If anyone of you reading this have any of your own suggestions or plans I would love to hear them!

All of this can be super frustrating - it is always nice to hear from others going through the same thing <3 Here is to a successful next cycle and Baby dust to anyone else trying to get pregnant in March! :D

Back in Skåne, Dpo All Wrong

Ah, we are back home as of yesterday afternoon.
It felt good getting back into our own walls, tidy up, and relax a bit. (Somehow sitting in a car for 5 hours isn't relaxing...)

The rest of our trip in Skövde was really nice. We went to Richard's older sister Jenny's house for dinner. We met up with everyone from his family and had a wonderful Thai meal cooked by Nee, his step mom.

Erika & Richard

Nee cooked handmade spring rolls, chicken noodles, and lovely Thai soup with chicken thigh meat, fresh mushrooms, and something crazy I took a whole bite out of which is in the ginger family (looked link a pink carrot, don't remember the name!).

Nee teaching the girls how to cook Thai food

Dharma & Alma - official food testers

Richard & his dad Jan

Jack and Liam in their cool new shirts!

Richard and I

I actually enjoyed having mod bangs that night - Erika did my hair in a "doughnut" and let me borrow her white collared shirt. She also did my make up! I wish I had taken more pictures of us getting ready.

Godis flygplanet! The Candy Airplane!

 On the way home we stopped by the Candy Airplane (Godis Flygplanet in Swedish :)) which is as you can see an actual airplane just renovated inside to hold a looong aisle of candy. Every kids dream. I believe it is near Vittsjö, not long after you cross into Skåne county from Småland.

But today it has been a typical Monday full of work. Richard was home though today and he was watching House of Cards on Netflix and later on in the day we played Skylanders ourselves a bit ;)

The real kicker was when I redid my chart on FertilityFriend.com - as I heard it being mentioned so many times on the Baby Center forums. It gave me a much clearer view on Ovulation, fertile days, and how many Dpo I am. I had been counting it all wrong like a complete nub.
Today I am 12 days dpo and I once again had another Bfn (big fat negative). Though I am not sure what to make of it since I haven't missed a period and I had it done at the doctors today. You'd think that would make it more accurate but she explained that their tests are most accurate 2 to 3 weeks AFTER the missed period.

Seems pretty crazy right? So I don't think that was the most reliable test to go by. I was there for some other routine checks and she offered to give me one. I still have my shred of hope that in a few days I will get a positive result.

Fingers crossed for a November baby!

Travels to Skövde

Yesterday we made the 5 hour car drive up north to Skövde where Richard's family lives.
It was the first time we had made that journey with all 3 kids and it all went rather well, only minor fights. And that's surprising since we took 0 activities with us.

We played games on scraps of old paper I found lying in the car like MASH and Tic Tac Toe and stopped to eat at some highway diner which served Swedish food called Road Star. I had Pann Biff which is a very Swedish dish, it was super yummy but I seriously wasn't feeling well at all the entire day.

Step daughter Dharma, son Liam, step son Jack

Swedish Pann beef with gravy and potatoes

"We are friends right?"

After we had arrived in the afternoon everyone got along swimmingly and Dharma and Jack caught up with their cousins while Liam got to see their house for the first time!
They apparently got along very well as this is what I saw next....

Yup that's right. Liam and Jack were dressed up as Disney Princesses by the girls. They came in singing songs and making faces and then...

Started a sword fight with wrapping paper. Yup. Still boys!

Oh no...

The next morning I was very disgruntled to see we woke up to snow on the ground. Especially since we brought no snow clothes or shoes, thinking it would be the same weather down south. Wrong!

Life is Beautiful

So Richard and I snuck out for some alone time while all the kids went to the woods. We bought some clothes for them as well as the perfume I had been eyeing for a few months now! It's the first time I have had perfume in over a year so I am super pleased ^_^

Afterwards we drove up the mountain road in Skövde to enjoy a little bit of a winter walk. I think it was called Billingehus, but I am not certain! We saw skiers running around on the tracks and lots of animal prints...but couldn't find any bunnies.

Enchanting

The woods themselves were absolutely beautiful and enchanting. Thick pine forest covered in light snow, I have never been in a forest quite like it before!

Then we stumbled upon a frozen lake which was quite a surprise! It was super beautiful out there.

In my fur hoodie!

We've just finished up a yummy lunch made by Richard's sister, and we have a Thai food dinner to look forward to tonight made by Richard's step mother Nee who comes from Thailand!

For now. Food coma and maybe a fire. A fire sounds good.

BFN - And The Long Tattoo Day

As mentioned in the title, today I got a BFN. Aka - Big Fat Negative.
Yes that's right, I am only 10 dpo and I took a early response pregnancy test.
I think it may have been sitting at a tattoo parlor for 7 hours (not getting tattooed) and the constant feeling that I should be pregnant so obviously a test would show that.
And even though I got a BFN, I am still pretty hopeful. I was a 2 pack, and I will save the other one until Wednesday when I should actually be testing.
It almost felt like a relief just testing, knowing, then carrying on with my day.

And our day started super early this morning packing the kids up and shippin em' off to school. With the new spring shoes! The sale is still ongoing on Skopunkt's website - Buy 3 Pay for 2, so if you are in Sweden now's a good time to get those sneakers!

Then Richard and I were off to Tattoo World in Höör. With a chocolate muffin from the gas station in hand we made the hour long journey north to the same place I got my rib-cage tattoo last April. The plan was for me to work while Richard got a Japanese sleeve tattoo done, but ofc no one had the internet key but the boss who was in Thailand. Just my luck right?

There's Janne working on Richard right at the beginning. We were there from 9 until nearly 4:30 pm so I had to keep myself busy doing things like... knitting legwarmers, watching Teen Wolf which I mysteriously had downloaded sometime before, buying snacks, and ofc....buying the pregnancy test.

Outlines on the top side done!

Richard has been waiting 6 years to get this sleeve done so he was pretty thrilled, though right this moment covered in ink goo, Helosan, and plastic wrap....

Shading done. Look - I photobombed!

The underside of the tattoo has a portrait which was originally painted by Audrey Kawasaki. It is all just in the baby stages now, and Richard will be going back in a few weeks once his arm has healed up.

When we got home we got ourselves packed to head on up to Skövde tomorrow to see Richard's family! We will be leaving first thing in the morning - it's a 5 hour drive up north and I hope we all survive the car ride.

Until then, the kiddos are watching Transformers on the new plasma TV and the whole house is booming. Time to call it a night and hope my sad enormous tummy calls it quits. And I will certainly keep on counting days until March 5th!