Health Centre, weight update and Uncle Erik

Erik loves spending time with his nephew

Me and Susanna met at the Health Centre today as we were both weighing our sons. Sean have put on 2 kg in one month and now weighs a total of 6.6kg. Basically, he has doubled in weight since he was born which is insane if I allow myself to think about it.


Whilst in the waiting room a new Mum came through the door, looking battered as if she's getting no sleep at all, and had with her what looked like a doll, a teeny tiny baby, no more than a few days old, and it had me thinking back 12 weeks ago when Sean was that little. As much as I would like him to stay that size forever, I also enjoy watching him grow and hitting each milestone.


Well at least, we think he is — we don’t check lists of such things nearly as often as we used to (and maybe he is better off for it). But we do see him lifting his head as he should and starting to grab at things that are interesting etc. All I can say is that I can't wait for when the day comes when he says Mummy (or 'mamma' in Swedish).


Uncle Erik (my brother - SEAN'S uncle) has been visiting this afternoon (pic above), and now I'm going to sit down and read the latest issue of TATLER , and have a large cup of tea.

As Oscar Wilde says “I believe that it is customary in good society to take some light refreshment at five o’clock.” - and I couldn't agree more! :-)

March 09 issue of Tatler

Tagged and featured

I would like to say a big THANKS to Stina for featuring me on her blog! She is another London blogger (but unfortunately for you English speaking readers, her blog is in Swedish) Go visit http://www.stinailondon.com/ for really great uplifting posts. She actually reminds me of myself and how I was 10 years ago :-)

Another thing is that I have been tagged by Sophie, where she challenges me to come up with seven facts about myself.

But just as she explains, it's really quite difficult to think of things to write, and also, because I've already done two similar posts before, I'm linking to them here, instead of re-writing them. Sorry Sophie, hope that's ok, but all the better I suppose because one post includes ten facts about me, and the other includes five facts - That's a total of 15(!) - i.e. eight bonus ones, haha

On our way to have Sean weighed this morning

Loving motherhood

Baby Bear in Burberry this morning

And so another week ahead of us.. This week it's half term break in schools around the country, but also a break for the mother/toddler playgroups. Instead some of the mothers, including I, will meet up in a local pram friendly cafe for baby chat, exchange of tips and just admirer each other's babies. I will also take baby Bear to the health centre and have him weighed.

As promised, I'm posting these pics especially for you, Annelie, (who bought Sean the Burberry body). Doesn't he look gorgeous? He is currently only 2 1/2 months but I am buying clothes sizes 3-6 months(!). He is growing, and we are talking very fast!

It’s already impossible for us to imagine a time before he were part of the family. This is partly due in part to his very easygoing personality: he just seem to be an expert at effortlessly belonging.

He accommodates any odd family plan without a fuss. Shopping around town for hours on end, with the pram - he sleeps. Dinner time? He is content to sit and watch a cartoon on Tele (not sure how much he gets or even sees, most likely just taking in the sounds and the colours) . Lunching or having dinner in a restaurant - he sleeps laying down on a sofa seat between Bear and I (as he is too small for a baby chair and also can't sit up straight). So basically without too much trouble, we take him along pretty much wherever we go.

Notable among his many fine features is also a complete willingness to fall asleep, especially in unusual circumstances. If we’ve taken him to a party or are out walking on Oxford Street, with a huge orchestra marching past, he sleeps. Even at home, when playing fairly loud music or turn on the vacuum cleaner for a good half an hours hoovering, he sleeps. No wonder I'm loving motherhood, right?! PUSS

Tip for next Valentine's

A dozen red roses from Bear to me for Valentine's

Now that Valentine's is past us, I can tell you about the card I got for Bear, without spoiling the surprise. You however, will of course have to wait until next year, should you want to give your partner the same.

It was made by at US based company called the World’s Smallest Postal Service. And they really do the most heart-stoppingly adorable and beautifully-crafted Valentine.

It's service is available online, and they will write up to 120 words of your (most romantic, heart-felt) squeeze them into a teeny-tiny 1x1.5 inch letter. It will then be placed into an equally tiny envelope which is then hand-addressed, stamped and sealed with a miniature wax seal with your initial on it.

To ensure your card/letter doesn’t get lost in the post, it’s beautifully packaged – with a magnifying glass - in a larger envelope and sent to the address of your choice.

Happy Valentine's

We have just come home from spending a night at the Radisson Mayfair Hotel in Mayfair, central London. It was sheer indulgence with room service for dinner AND breakfast in bed! :-) Baby Bear really enjoyed a long bath with me and lot's of bubbles and despite that the hotel had organised a baby cot for Sean to sleep in, he slept in the "adult's bed", cause there is nothing nicer than feeling a baby's soft skin next to yours! :-)

I am not a huge fan of Valentine's day, sometimes it's just a little too commercial for me. I believe love should be shown everyday not just one day a year. That said, I don't dislike it either, and normally I quite look forward to picking a new restaurant to try for V's day dinner.

However, since we have an addition to our household now, we are slightly more limited of things to do this Valentine's, and seeing that we already went out on Monday celebrating Bear's birthday, we are in no rush to go out again and will therefore just stay in, put on our pj's, light lots of candles annd snuggle up on our sofa with our little baby Bear, watch a movie that I've downloaded called Tropic Thunder, eat biscuits and sip on lots of cups of tea.

Here are pics from the last few days. Have a nice day today and make sure to spread some luuuuv out there! XOXO

Having cake and coffee at the Scandinavian Kitchen with my friend Helen on Thursday

Baby Bear lounging on the hotel bed

Real comfort food- Spag bol - yummy

A newly bathed Baby Bear


See if you can spot Baby Bear's feet

A typical English Brekkie served with today's paper

Fabulous Find

Found this gorgeous Key and Change holder in patent red monogram leather from Louis Vuitton. Perfect accessorie or gift for the up coming Valentine's.

Semla

"Semla" - a traditional Swedish cardamom flavoured wheat bun, scooped out and filled with almond paste and topped with whipped cream and a dusting of icing sugar

Very soon it’s Shrove Tuesday here in the UK ( 24 Feb 2009), which is also known as Pancake Day (or Pancake Tuesday to some people) because it is the one day of the year when almost everyone eats a pancake.

However, In Sweden, its time for “Fettisdag”, or “Fat Tuesday”. This is when us Swedes eats a “SEMLA” (see above) instead.

Luckily for us London-Swedes, they have already started selling them in the Scandinavian Kitchen, and get this; to ensure yourself of that they are not sold out once you get there, you’ll have to call and book one in advance, which is what my friend Helen has done for us this evening. Alternatively you can also buy them in the Swedish shop in Marylebone.

Jeans

Lohan - new face of Fornarina

My friend asked me the other day what jeans I'm wearing these days. My answer was simply that I'm still wearing mama-jeans and a pair of really old ones from Topshop, as those are the only ones of my old jeans that I can squeeze in to right now.

No - I'm not one of those women who squeezed out a baby and is jumping around in their skinny jeans the next day. And no, you don't get a flat stomach only from breast feeding!


Anyway, she told me she is wearing Citizens of Humanity (brainchild of Seven designer Jerome Dahan) because according to her, they have a perfect post pregnancy fitting and a very nice vintage-look.

Prior to falling pregnant, I was mainly wearing True Religion and Miss Sixty, but now, with my expanded pelvic bone, I think it's about time that I realise that I probably never will fit in to my old ones and start thinking of which new ones to buy. One size bigger.. *sigh*...

I've checked out the styles and prices here , but will of course wait and buy them until we travel to America next month, as it's much cheaper there.

Good morning!

My two favourite boys in the whole world

Baby Bear and I woke up a little while ago but are still in bed. He is right next to me, so beautiful and content after I just fed him. He is just about to fall asleep again,
with his eyes open, and I can see his eyes staring like a zombie or rolling around in the sockets!

Bear left around 7.30am for a breakfast meeting at the Landmark hotel, but will be back afterwards as he is working from home today:-) We love to have him home as much as possible and every Wednesday when he works from home, is a luxury to us.

We had a really nice time on his birthday on Monday but had a last minute change of plan and went to Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe instead.

Main reason for that was because we weren't bringing the pram, and therefore needed a sofa seat to put Baby Bear on, as he is too small for a high chair. They had set aside a table with it's own round sofa for us, that was perfect. We had a three course meal and a fantastic wine to go with that. Baby Bear didn't make a single noise the whole time and made us really proud.

Yesterday I started to feel a bit woozy and sick in the morning, and by 2pm when Susanna and I went to the mother baby group at the Swedish church, I had to ask her to hold Sean so I could run to the toilet and vomit! Our visit there didn't last long, and I went back home to rest for the whole day, hence the lack of blogging. Thankfully I'm a lot better today and look forward to get going with my chores as I was in bed all day yesterday.

Happy Birthday Bear

Today is the birthday of my darling boyfriend, the love of my life; Bear.

I'm making scrambled eggs for breakfast, and I've bought fresh bagels to go with that. I'm of course serving him that in bed, with a big cup of freshly ground java! (and his presents)

He is gratefully taking the day off work today:-)

I will therefore waste no more time here, crawl back in to bed, spend all my time with him and give him my undivided attention.

Later we are going for lunch at a Conran restaurant Orrery, and the evening we will spend at leisure.

Have a great day - I know we certainly will!

XOXO

This weekend's purchases

New on my kitchen shelf:

Linwoods Organic Milled Flax, Sunflower, Pumpkin, Sesame Seeds and Goji berries is a tasty and highly nutritious blend of superfoods which I enjoy with any meal, but mainly when sprinkled on my muesli in the mornings. It can be bought in Holland & Barrett for £6.00

New on my bathroom shelf:

Lip gloss by MAC called "Underage", and a yummy lotion called "Pure Seduction" by Victoria's Secret

New in my freezer:

Low fat frozen yogurt by Ben & Jerry (choc fudge brownie flavour only of course!)

My pride and joy

Baby Bear earlier today - my pride and joy...

Sean has gone from a baby who could only eat, sleep and poo to a very cheerful little boy and I'm beginning to get glimpses into his personality. One thing for sure is that a mirror delights him.
He stares and grins at the baby in the mirror, not realising it's really his own reflection. He's still quite uncoordinated and accidentally bashes himself the forehead or in the eye with a fist, although he is certainly mastering the art of grabbing Mummy's hair – ouch!

And he knows who Mummy is! :-) At various occasions he has been constantly carried by adults he didn't recognise, but if he heard my voice, he would turn his head towards me, and he also responds to my funny faces with his big grins. My baby boy is everything and more I could ever dream of. I feel so privileged to be his mother!

This morning the three of us had a lie-in, then we went for lunch at WagaMama, which is a chain of pan-asian inspired noodle restaurants. Bear is now watching Rugby when I'm blogging, and this evening we are watching a new award nominated movie called The Slumdog Millionaire. Back tomorrow XOXO

Fab find

If money was no object..

After seeing these photos of Nicole Richie, in my InStyle magazine that I subscribe to, with her fabulous Louis Vuitton jewelry box, I thought to do some research. I found this gorgeous vintage case trunk on Go Antiques and I really want it!!! Note: I’m taking donations :-) These days though, most money I spend is on Baby Bear (see my latest purchases below).

We now have a long weekend ahead of us. Yay!! :-) Reason being is because it's Bear's birthday on Monday and he is taking the day off :-)

Baby Bear is very grouchy at the moment, and is not sleeping well. It sounds as if he has got a lot o phlegm in his throat and a blocked nose, but there is not much you can do with a baby who's got a cold except for just allowing it to take it's course.

I'm now gonna get my act together and take Sean out for a nice long walk. I'm dying to get out in the cold crisp air. Hope you all have a fab Friday. Ciao!

I really enjoy shopping for Baby Bear, even more so than for myself these days!

Japanese Gem

Bear and I went to Mura, a fabulous local Japanese restaurant last night. We both love Japanese and there they have a great selection. They also do deliveries which is very useful for those cosy nights in. Here I'm with Colombian Sam, the proud owner and good friend of ours.

Colorado - Here we come! :-)

We are taking Baby Bear with us on a skiing holiday in Colorado in March

It's now finalised, Bear and I decided on where to go on our next holiday with Baby Bear, and we opted for a skiing hol in Colorado instead of going to the Caribbean. The tickets now have arrived and we are both so excited!
We are going in mid March and we will be staying in Boulder with my very good Swedish girlfriend Boel and her family for a few days ,and then we are going to stay in a hotel in a ski resort (Aspen or Vail).

It 's a very long flight, approx 10 hours, and we have reserved a bassinet for Sean, which is like a moses basket. Hopefully he will be sleeping during most of the flight, and when he is not, I'll just feed him :-)

Yesterday I took Baby Bear to The Dorchester for afternoon tea. We met my friend Ama there, and we spent hours in style, just lounging on their luxurious sofas. I love the Dorchester (me and Bear also went there a couple of weeks ago for our anniversary). The staff there are amazing and the girl looking after us was so sweet. She really made sure Baby Bear was comfortable by bringing extra cushions and heated up his food etc. Below you'll find pics from there. Bye for now, XOXO

Baby Bear's first visit to hotel The Dorchester

Lounging on in style, on their comfy sofas

Ama who can't stay away from Baby Bear :-)



It's a nice walk back from the Dorchester, on London's Park Lane

In love again..

Baby Bear is smiling and laughing so much these days

I know I’ve said it before, but it is odd how you can watch a face for hours on end without growing tired...And when my Baby Bear is dozing, I catch myself doing that, time and time again.

He is doing great. He really recognizes our faces and voices now, and one of his favorite past-rtimes is sleeping on my chest. And I just love it!

Oh, and sniffing a baby’s head is more intoxicating and addictive than any drug you can think of :-)

It's amazing how quickly they change though. I saw him first smile when only a couple of weeks old, but in the last few days, he has started smiling ALL THE TIME. He also is babbling constantly now and is beginning to really interact with us. It's so rewarding to see him grow and develop and know that it is because of us and the care we are giving him. It's great to be in love again, this time with the younger Bear! ;-)

Winter Wonderland

Central London at 6.30am this morning

Good Morning! Well it wont be such a good morning for a lot of Londoners who are facing a lot of problems going to work this morning. Because the heaviest and most widespread snowfall in 18 years in London and most of the UK (with more on the way), there are NO buses running at all, several tube stations closed as well as some motorways and London City Airport.

I took these pictures 6.30am this morning outside our house, and by the looks of it, I won't be going anywhere today! Stay safe out there! XOXO

Lazy wonderful weekend

Don't be fooled by the green plant in the background and my sunglasses - it's freezing in London today

I'm not waiting for a special occasion to wear my sexy over-the- knee boots - I have started to wear them casually, and a lot lately, as I love them so much!

Canteen is a very pram friendly restaurant on Baker Street

Bear quickly regretted that we chose a window seat as it was so drafty from the wind outside

What a lazy weekend we've had. But a really WONDERFUL lazy one, I've enjoyed every single minute. The three of us spent most of Saturday in our TV bed. watching several new episodes of American Idol, Rocknrolla (Guy Ritchie's latest movie), and some episodes of Ricky Gervais' "The Extras", with the exception of when I got up to make fish fingers and mash potatoes, which we also had IN BED! Pigs, I know! ;-)

And then, I had big plans for my Sunday afternoon. I was going to take my beautiful boys out for a long walk in Hyde Park for a change (we normally go to Regents Park)and take some new photos of Baby Bear. Of course, the skies had other plans; it's one of the coldest most bitter days I've experienced in London in a long time.

The thermostat shows it is just below zero, it was snowing lightly this morning and this afternoon it's very windy and with hail storms. So, I had to enter Plan B, which meant going for lunch at a local restaurant called Canteen, where we had a lamb stew followed by some coffee and a chocolate brownie with ice cream. Puss Puss, Happy Sunday!

Cover star

Finally Friday! :-)

Selfridges is currently covered in scaffolding

New Bond Street offers very exclusive shopping in London such as DKNY (as above)

The sale is still going on in certain shops here

Dolce Gabbana's current window

My shopping today included two white shirts, one plain fitted, one with frills and a pink v-neck

slip-over and matching pink cuff links (below)

Hey ho, it's Friday! And I can't wait for Bear to come home. This weekend we have made no plans whatsoever. We just decided that this weekend is meant for the three of us only, to spend real quality time together. The weather in London is gorgeous at the moment, around 7 degrees, cold but sunny.

I went to New Bond Street earlier, (where I also took a couple of pics, see above) to look for a present for Bear who's birthday is on 9 February. Unfortunately I didn't find anything for him, but ended up buying some stuff for myself -tough, I know ;-)

I found a white shirt with frills on the front and at the bottom of the sleeves, a pink-ish v-neck slip-over and matching pink cuff links as well as a plain white fitted shirt.

Other than that, I am feeling great - I am really enjoying motherhood and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful son like Sean. Everyday with him is a blessing and I miss him when I'm not with him. Now I'm gonna make myself a cup of tea and take it and Sean with me to bed to enjoy some cosy time in front of the TV before Bear comes home. Have a wonderful weekend XOXO