30 Weeks

I can't believe I am 30 weeks pregnant already, we still have so much left to do. LL is still sleeping in the room that will be the baby nursery. I was planning on having her in her new room by Christmas...

I am starting to feel really uncomfortable. Moving is starting to get really though. I haven't worked out for the last couple of weeks since my back really started hurting the last time I swam. Maybe I will try it again this weekend. I have already gained 30lbs so I guess there is an explanation for all the additional pain.

I am not much of a complainer though. Maybe I need to get a little better at that so I can get people to do things for me.

Updated Layout

I felt like I was posting too much about Sales & Giveaways so I decided to move that section to a different site. I want this to me more fun with Scandinavian stuff, plus I don't get paid or anything to post about the sales. I do get a few things from Polarn O. Pyret as a member of their PO.Pular Parent network, but I spend a lot of my own money on their clothes. I just want my readers who are interested in the sales to be able to take advantage of the good deals on some of the brands I talk about.

You can find the Sales & Giveaways on top of the right bar or click the tab at the top.

Milibe Copenhagen

Milibe Copenhagen continues their Scandinavian stripes trend for their spring 2011 collection. I love stripes and these high quality ribbed cotton clothes makes me smile. The simplistic combination of white and bright colors would appeal to my LL as well. Milibe was established in 2002 and their eco-friendly styles are often found in high end Scandinavian children boutiques.

Milibe Copenhagen

For suggestions of where to find Milibe in the US click here.

IKEA crib recall

While I still think IKEA cribs are great for short people and your budget, I wouls like to make you aware that they have recalled the SINGLAR crib for repair. Check out the details and what you need to look for on IKEA's recall website. Luckily this is not the crib we have.

Scandinavian Brands at Cribsie Awards

The Cribsie awards recognize the best brands, products, services and websites for babies and tots. For 2011 there are several Scandinavian brands nominated. You can vote for your favorites (weather they be Scandinavian or not) on Cribsie.com until March 18th. Here are the nine Scandinavian nominations:

Best High Chair That Isn't An Eye Sore
& Coolest Cribs For Modern Tots

Best High Chair That Isn't An Eye Sore

Best Distraction When You Need To Shower
& One Thing You Can't Leave Home Without

Most Durable Basics That Don't Look Like Basics

Comfiest Pajamas

Most Comfortable Way To Wear Your Baby

The One Baby Gadget You Won't Regret Buying

Update 3/1/11: Added NoseFrida to the list.

Happy International Mother Language Day

Today is not just President's day, it is also International Mother Language day. Not that I knew there was such a day. It has been celebrated since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. While LL's second language has a very slow start, it is improving daily (I hope). I am getting better and better at talking Swedish to her, even though it often comes out in English first.

To learn more about the day and why we should celebrate check out Multilingual Living.

The Perfect Maternity Pillow

When we were expecting LL I purchased a maternity pillow. I used it every day but always felt like it was a waste of money. It doesn't really do anything that a few extra regular pillows can do for you. You just put them around you to prop yourself up.

This time around I have had a much harder time not sleeping on my back. When I get in to bed the dog has usually taken over my maternity pillow and is not really willing to move. He only sleeps in the bed during the winter, during the summers he is way too hot.

Last night I didn't make him jump of the bed and just wen't to sleep with him behind my back. I guess I don't want to roll over my dog and was still on my side when I woke up in the middle of the night. So there you go, the perfect maternity pillow - my dog.

Stuff & Things

I have decided that "Stuff & Thing" is where I can write about things that are not necessarily Scandinavian, but reminds me of the lifestyle or inspire me in some other way. Here are a few thing I have come across in the past couple of week.

• Winter Water Factory has some styles that have a very Scandinavian Feel this spring. The Danish flower dress is super cute and the pirate ship reminds me a little of Viking ships.

• This cake idea that I found on "Design & Inredningsbloggen" (Swedish) from one charming party is so fun and colorful, maybe it's an idea for LL's upcoming second birthday if I decide not to go the Princess cake route.

• I discovered that Pandora has teamed up with Susan G. Komen for the Cure for 2011. They have specially designed pink ribbon Jewelry and will donate part of the proceeds. I wrote about Pandora after receiving a necklace for my birthday.

• We just purchased a new toilet seat (yes toilet seat) but I wish I would have seen this version at parent hack before we did. It would have been totally worth it with a toddler who is about ready to begin potty training.

• I can't remember where I read about the Punch'n'Cuddle, but I wanted to share it with you since it looks like a lot of fun.

• I can't remember where I first saw the stackhouse either, but it is the coolest doll house I have ever seen and I really can see it as a unisex option. Maybe when LL is old enough...

Update: Figured out where I found the Punch'n'Cuddle, it was on the Pirouette blog.

DUNS Spring Collection

Swedish DUNS have based their collections on unisex, organic and unique thinking since 2007. I love when designers don't try to push pink and purple on our little girls and I try to keep LL away from that mold. Their spring collection does not disappoint, although I am not sure hwy all the models are girls if it aims for unisex. I hope some of their cool stuff will be available in the US as well.

Bribing Your Kids

I read this article on babble.com last week about how bribing works and it made me laugh a little. We have been bribing LL to eat her food for a while, but it is not the type of bribing you would expect. We don't give her stickers or anything like that like the article suggests, we bribe her with other types of food.

Two days ago we were eating mashed potatoes, green beans and pork tenderloin. All she wanted was the green beans so we tell her that if she eats a piece of pork or spoon of potatoes she will get more green beans. Yesterday she wanted to drink juice out of a grownup mug, so we told her she would get more juice if she ate some of her peas. Broccoli, cheese, meatballs and spaghetti are other things we have bribed her with in the past that I can think of right now. Sometime we have to go the sweet route and I bring out the peaches or blueberries.

Valentines Day in Sweden

Valentines day had very little meaning to me growing up. It is not really a day we celebrated in Sweden back then, but it has become a lot more popular since I left the country. I think in my last couple of years in high school, some people would exchange flowers or cards.

My husband probably think this is great. He really does not have to try very hard to make it a special day (I should have pretended it was more important when we first started dating!). Our first valentines day together we had dinner at Wendy's! I think he wanted something more, but it was probably in the middle of the week and between practices - so we were busy. I bought him a bag of mixed nuts, and I have done every year since. It is kind of our thing now. We spend time together - but skip all the fancy stuff.

But I do like a good desert now, and I would love a Swedish princess cake like the one below. I am pretty sure this is my favorite cake and I really miss it. Maybe one day I will take the time to make one, but right now I am going to just look at this pircture. You may be able to buy some at the "Swedish Food Market" at IKEA or make your own (instructions here).

Happy Valentines Day

Here are some cute heart outfits from some of my favorite Scandinavian brands. Roda Hund, Polarn O Pyret and Hanna Andersson.

Valentines Day Cards

Here are some free printables from Hanna Andersoon if you are looking for last minute cards to print out. I printed some on card-stock that LL was drawing on, that way she get's her signature on them in a way as well. We are going to hand them out to all her daycare friends tomorrow.

Still Pregnant

27wk6d

Today I discovered the scale in our house is just a little off (about 10 lb) I guess I don’t check my weight that often, but I did this week and was about 10 lb heavier at my Drs appointment today. This was another one of those completely pointless appointments. We basically said hi, checked the heart rate (140 bps) and that was it.

I am starting to get really hot in this 10 degree weather (-12 Celsius).  Everyone else is complaining, I think it almost feels nice to cool down a bit. At least we haven’t gotten that much snow so I don’t have to worry about falling.

Since I am entering the third trimester now I have noticed a few things that have not happened this time around, that did when I was expecting LL. The nicest is probably that I have no round ligament pain. This started early in my last pregnancy. I do not have a big dark line on my tummy (Linea Negra). Plus this little girl is not getting the hiccups all the time like LL did. I sort of miss that though, I liked it when she had the hiccups.

Dinner Time: Sausage Stroganoff

I was going to write about our latest Swedish dinner today but I have too much to do at work to make it look good. Instead I will leave you with a link (in Swdish) to a very Swedish dish on one of my favorite Swedish food websites menyse.com. It is a version of Beef Stroganoff made with a special Swedish sausage - Falukorv.

The trick is what do you substitute the Falukorv with? Well - you could make it yourself according to this website. Falukorv is very close to the same as bologna, so you could get a piece of high quality pure beef bologna from your deli counter and try that as a substitute. I think my taste for Falukorv is gone, so I prefer to substitute with Kielbasa. It gives the dish the little extra kick it needs. Hot dogs is of course another possible substitute, but I think this makes it taste like a kids meal. LL already prefers the more spicier stuff, so she would probably like it the way I make it now - maybe it will make the shopping list for next week.

Serve with a salad and Wasa crisp bread.

Tuss - The Ultimate Simple Solution

Today I wanted to show you Tuss. Based in Stockholm Sweden, this design for kids aged 0-12 matches the simplistic Scandinavian style perfectly. The clothes are minimalistic in both design and color. The feel of these clothes is both timeless and contemporary. With black, white, grey and blue color many of their clothes are gender neutral and can be handed down for generations to come.

For a sample of retailers in the US that carry Tuss click here.

A Marimekko Spring

Marimekko has been creating some really fun stuff since the 1950's in Finland that has developed into a lifestyle. This spring is no different and they have some really fun stuff for both kids and adults.

Pulmu dress

Ilmapallo shirt

This new Unikko pattern from Marimekko available this spring puts a smile on my face. I have been contemplating using Marimekko fabric for LL's curtains and now I wish I would have left the walls white so that I could use this patten.

Unikko Bedding

It sound like Finnish Marimekko has a lot in the works this spring as they are starting the expansion with the Crate & Barrel collaboration. Another Marimekko collaboration I am really excited about is with Converse. They have come up with these fabulous sneakers that I found here and are already available on Converses website.

Marimekko Converse Shoes

Rough Start in Learning Swedish

I have really been struggling speaking Swedish to LL so we are very far behind on her learning Swedish and becoming a bilingual. As I started to write on my blog more often it has improves a lot. Even though I write in American, I read a lot more Swedish then I have for a long time.

I think the big problem is that JJ don’t understand a word of Swedish, and I don’t like to talk just Swedish in from of him. But he is out of town often and when he is I am not a whole lot better at speaking Swedish. On top of that no-one would guess I am from a different county when I speak American because I have embraced the culture so well. LL understands and speaks American so well already at 22 months old so I find myself saying things in American first and then in Swedish. I hope at some point I will just say things in Swedish, but right now the double language phrases feel most comfortable. Maybe in a few more weeks I will actually say it in Swedish first followed by American. The past two weeks she has learned a lot and last night I asked her to give daddy a kiss in Swedish, after which she leaned over to him. Daddy didn’t know why so he never did get that kiss, but LL absolutely knew what I was talking about. I felt so proud!

I have finally invested in a book about how to raise bilingual children, and hope to get some good advice from there. I went with Raising a Bilingual Child (Living Language Series), but have just read the first few pages. I hope it covers more than the "one parent, one language" method I have heard a lot about since that obviously does not seem to be working.

Princess and the Pea

I grew up reading a lot of HC Andersons wonderful fairytales so when I saw this super cute toy and book set about Princess and the Pea at Fjorn Scandinavian I was so excited. The little crochet doll is so cute and it even includes a little crochet pea.

Update: I found  the designer of this cute doll. It is Danish Maileg.

Still working out

Sitting at my desk is getting increasingly uncomfortable. I have to lean pretty far back to make room for my growing tummy. My calves are starting to cramp up a little towards the end of the day as well.

I am still working out and go swim at least once a week. But I have to do something about flip-turns since I am not just floating around, we are talking about serious swimming. I start to get really uncomfortable towards the end of a practice and I am pretty sure it’s because of the turns. When I was expecting LL I was working out a lot more, but I didn’t swim and it feels really good to be in the water. I am not sure how much longer I can do it. I think the swimming part is ok, but I don’t know how long I can fit in to a swimsuit. A teammate told me she had no problems with that, but she does not realize how big I get. But I am hoping she’s right. Maybe I can keep going until the last month.

I go see the doctor for a checkup next week, that will be 28 weeks. It is going so fast and we still have a lot to do at home to make room for a new baby.

Stuff & Things

• I really like the patterns from Brita of Sweden that I read about on Huset's blog. They will have most of their things in store soon.

• I love to read the "Surviving in Sweden" blog written by an American in Sweden in English. There are so many of the cultural differences that you forget about after spending 12+ years in the US, and there are some areas where I didn't know that's how it is in Sweden (like raising a child - it is not exactly something I thought about before I turned 18).

• If you tune in to Oprah's new network you will be able to watch the English - Swedish design duo Simon & Thomas.

• Get a Dala horse Scandinavian valentines day card for your lovable Swede this year from Etsy.

• Although not Scandinavian, the stackhouse doll house I found on Plioz's blog is too cool for me not to mention. This unisex house is probably the most clever doll house I have seen.

Candy from Sweden

Read about a Swedish packet on Taina O's blog that made me want some. A lot of the Scandinavian gift shops I have listed have Swedish candy, but nothing can beat Swedish candy by the pound. This is a very common way of selling candy in Sweden. You get to pick your own and then you pay by weight (and in kg, not lbs). The candy store is in Sweden so I am sure shipping is ridiculous. It's a good thing I am pregnant. I am trying not to eat too much candy and sweets, so I am not going to buy any. Not right now anyway, I just wanted to share some delicious looking candy pictures of some of my favorites. Check it out at Candy from Sweden.

           

Food & Gifts

Here is an other list that I have put together over the years as I have lived here in the US. I don't actually purchase stuff very often from any of these, but think it is fun to check it out and maybe get some inspiration for things. The stores are categorized by what the store seems to focus on, but most of them sell both food and gifts. These are mostly Swedish - after-all, that's where I grew up. I know ICA has an online store (or used to anyway) where they ship internationally, but I can't seem to find that link. If you have any shops that you think I should ad to the list let me know. This list can be found under Food & Gifts tab on the top going forward.

Gifts

A Swedish Affair

Bergquist Imports, Inc
Candy from Sweden (Ship from Sweden)

Fjorn Scandinavian

Hemslojd

Huset

Ingebretsen’s

Scandia Imports

Scandinavian Marketplace

Scandinavian South

Scandinavian Touch
Stockholm Objects

The Gift Chalet

Wooden Spoon

Food

iGourmet .com Scandinavian

Kristall

Nordic House

Scandia Food

Scandinavian Specialties

Sweden’s Best

Food & Gifts

Anderon Butik

Butik-Hemlängtan (Ship from Sweden)

Ebleskiver (Website with Amozon purchase suggestions)

Nordic Gift House

NorHouse