Yesterday, under the weight of much duress, Lydia was cleaning up her bedroom while Helena and I were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and chatting. After she’d been in there for some time, we heard a plaintive call from her direction — “Mom, come …” — then, close on its heels, a more… Read More Mistaken identity

a BABY!So, we had our ultrasound yesterday, and lo and behold, there’s a baby in my belly! Everything looks good, including our new and improved due date of February 13 (I had guesstimated February 23). This is the only picture we got, and it’s not a very good one–and even worse in reproduction, I’m afraid–but… Read More I spy, with my little eye …

I was having coffee with a group of girlfriends last week, and one of them said to me that she’d been thinking about “alone time” and whether I ever got any.? She said she figured it must be pretty rare with this houseful of kids I’ve got, and I suppose she’s mostly right? Usually I… Read More All on my own

Tage objected to the obvious favoritism shown by my posting only a picture of Petra in the new bathtub, so here’s one of him to even up the score a bit:

After five long years, we finally have a full-size bathtub, and the kids are loving it. For the time being we have to fill it from the shower and drain it with a hose duct-taped to the underside, but those are minor enough issues. The big problem is that our current water heater is far… Read More Rub-a-dub-dub

Olof and Lydia just spent a couple of hours making beef in wine sauce, diligently peeling and chopping, slicing and dicing, seasoning and frying, and ultimately serving up an impressive meal. Then they got to work on a pot of minestrone, and all the while I sat on the couch leafing through the new fall… Read More Gourmet cooking

I’ve just read an alarming bit of news that may finally convince my brother, Sam, that he needs to get his genes out there in the pool: apparently, redheads may become “extinct” within the century. I’ve been trying and trying to have a redheaded baby, but so far haven’t succeeded–I’m still holding out hope for… Read More Say it isn’t so!

One thing that didn’t occur to me when I decided to move permanently to Sweden and thus raise my children as Swedes is just how irritating I would find it to listen to them butchering my beloved mother tongue day after day.   Some of the “Swenglish” I find cute–endearing, even–but most of it bugs me… Read More Critical

Though it offended his tender sensibilities mightily, Olof finally agreed yesterday to let me buy a little stereo system with a CD-changer. I’m well and truly tired of listening to my music on the clock-radio, and I’d also like to be able to do a little track-programming and random-playing. Olof’s reasoning against a stereo was… Read More Turn the radio up