Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Kids
We have been on vacation, so there are lots of exciting things going on that will require a more well thought out post than I have in me tonight. So here are some quick kid pictures for the family, instead of the lengthy midsommar posts I have saved in draft...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy MidSummer!
More later, we are too busy celebrating the big Swedish Holiday of MidSummer by weaving flower garlands, dancing around midsummer poles to fiddle music, and eating strawberries at Farfar's to blog much for now!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Bye, Bye LilleBo!
End of School Year Party.
Our first whole year in a preschool/Dagis here in Sweden is officially over. We had a lovely ceremony at the Waldorf School to complete SwedeGirls's year. The parents gathered before the ceremony to learn songs and make wild flower head wreaths for the children.
I got to chat (in english) with some of the other parents. I even made a new friend that had her baby at home! That's the beauty of Waldorf schools- the people attracted to them are lively, soulful, and always interesting. I have plans to see a couple of the families we have met at the school over our summer break.
The finished wreaths

We set up lovely food for our potluck lunch.

We admired the beauty of the school itself!

And surprised the children, welcoming them into a room, adorning them with flowered wreaths, and singing to them. The teachers played a special song on the lyres. A nice little bit was made of the importance of closing of the school year, and thank yous said.

Her teachers from this year


I am truly grateful for our school . It is part of the regular Swedish Dagis system that provides government funded preschool. In the USA, and in Denmark(I learned from our Danish friends today), Waldorf schools are private and very pricey. Because this is public and well funded, the teachers are well trained, the students are economically diverse, and we do not have the constant stress and bad personal dynamics that go with being a tiny, fledgling, economically struggling private school like most American Waldorf Schools. We are fortunate to have a sense of stability at our school that is absent in most American Waldorf schools. We are grateful for the chance to go to this school, which extends all the way through the grades to high school. Will we stay? Time will tell. I was pretty intrigued at the Spring festival seeing the pictures of the high school kids' on their school trip to Africa. This year we had the most minute complaints (wishing the youngest were more included in the festival preparations and performances), but overall we have been very happy at cozy LilleBo.
We live in the Pippi
Capitol of the World
Pippi is the quintessential Swedish icon. And no complaints here- she's free, fun, and funky. A feminist Swedish precursor to Punky Brewster! The Pippi stories by Astrid Lindgren are one of Sweden's great contributions to the world. But here, only in Sweden, would there be a glut of Pippi wigs at the thrift store. This is not even all of the ones they had for sale:

It's wrong, so wrong. I know....but I just had to!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nursing Mother News Flash

Perhaps its my own blind spot, since as a midwife my care of women concluded at 6 weeks. My knowledge of the terrain after that time is limited to my own experiences and those of my friends- I do not have the benefit of many women's stories experiences after 6 weeks, in the same way I do before. It's a weird thing- seeing a woman every week for so long, then not seeing them much after 6 weeks...Of course our birth center had groups and classes that regularly gathered, but still.

It seems I forgot a really, really important thing about being a nursing mother.

You are really, really, really hungry.

Maybe that sounds dumb, that that is a news flash. But I just realized I have been kind of spacey, kind of grumpy, kinda of ineffective for a few weeks. I do not think it's hormones, it's hunger. I just virtually kicked my four year old out of the way while on a rampage to get to the blender to make a smoothie. I NEED PROTEIN. Do not get in my way!

Meanwhile, I noticed I was losing lots of hair in the shower (a mysterious and commonly reported occurrence around three months postpartum, the main thing I did get calls about postpartum as a matter of fact. Now, I am sure it is lack of protein). My nails are thin, my hair is falling out, and I am starving. And I have not been that into chicken or any meat, and have been paying a lot less attention to my protein intake than when pregnant.

Well, the baby took the whole pregnancy to reach 8 pounds. She now weighs 15 1/2 pounds, having almost doubled her weight in the last three months. I am still building her body, but with my milk alone. No wonder I am starving. Moo.

My insta- smoothie I just whipped up was a variation of a smoothie recommended in Robin Lim's "After The Baby's Birth" book.

A scoop of egg white protein powder, A handful of almonds blended in a coffee grinder with a date, to a paste, a cup plus of Milk, a half cup or so of Coconut Milk, and a big pinch of cardamom. I figure that smoothie has about 40-50 grams of protein. I made two.

Robin's book also recommends keeping a pot of Chichiri on the stove- basically quionoa and lentils with Indian spices, so you have a quick good carb/ high protein snack on hand. I may have to start doing this. She has fairly recently published a cookbook for nursing moms. I am really thinking I may need to enlist Amazon-dot-UK to deliver it to my door, and remind me what it is I can prepare and eat while my four year old and baby seem to be commanding most of my attention.

So, new moms, don't forget to plan what to eat after the dust settles, life has moved on past the birthing time, but you are still growing a person with your very body.

Time for me to recommit to taking multi vitamins, calcium, omega-3's, and having good protein meals and snacks around. Off to make a pot of nursing tea, I guess.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

Family Resemblance

What do you think? Do we look alike? Girls only this time, there are no SwedeDaddy pictures on the hard drive. Sorry!

Baby SwedeMom 1974

Baby SwedeGirl 2005

SwedeBaby 2009

Baby SwedeMom 1974

Baby SwedeGirl 2005

SwedeBaby 2009

Baby Talk

Looks like we got another chatty one in the house!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Nothing But Flowers ... Can I get used to this lifestyle?


SwedeBaby!
SwedeGirl left her doll out, and she bears an erie resemblance to the real baby. I keep getting freaked out when I see the baby doll left out!
And here are more SwedeBaby pictures from the last two days, for her adoring far away fans.