A dark stranger in our (future) kitchen

It’s a funny coincidence. Right now, as we are planning to move in to the house in Bromma, that house is on television every night. The kitchen in the house happens to be the setting for a commercial for a web based phone directory service. The whole meaning of it is “let the old printed phone book rest in peace – it’s history”.

Life in a cardbord box

It’s been quiet here for a few days. The reason is that we have a lot to do. We’re preparing for taking the pictures for the apartment ad on Wednesday, and it feels like we’re moving already. A lot of things need to be packed away. (The apartment has to look stylish and spacey, almost as if nobody lives in it, all for the reason of attracting a lot of people and making the best deal possible).

Some furniture has to be removed, other furniture needs to be mended. Joanna is the coolest person in the household right now, she just plays on her own, patiently. But she was a bit angry when she realized we had stuffed away most of her toys…

Yep, Felix fits in one of the cardbord boxes!

Speaking of Felix, by the way, he turned six months last Thursday, February 4th. And he really is a little guy now. He can sit in a baby chair (with support) by the table and eat real food. Mashed, of course, but still. Real food! Congratulations Felix

An exciting day skating on the lake

My goddaughter Stella turned eight this week. Today her family threw an outdoor skating birthday party for her on one of the city’s frozen lakes. Such a nice idea!

I took both the kids and went (Mik was at the big skydiving party boat trip). It all started beautifully, Joanna skated along (she’s really good at it now) and we were offered hot dogs, cakes and warm drinks. But then something happened.

You see the start of it in the picture here below. Felix is mad because he’s hungry and because his cap has fallen down in his eyes. Joanna is sulky because… well I don’t know why. Probably because she was shy among all the eight-year-olds and felt I was embarrassing somehow, almost like a teenage girl. And also because she had gotten snow in her shoes and was cold.

When we left, both the kids were crying, while I tried to smile and look unaffected. Life with kids truly offers real excitement

The house

The real estate agent took down the old website where we had all the pictures of our new house, but now they’re up again at our own site:

www.stier.se/house

Felix’ first tooth

Today I felt something sharp in Felix’ mouth. Joanna and I did our best to try to see what was hidden under his tongue, and there it was… his first tooth!

And by the way, we got the house! Signed the contract yesterday. Now we just have to sell our apartment and bring in a lot of cash…

Team training in the tunnel

This weekend I have been training with my team in the wind tunnel in Bottrop, Germany. We are (from left to right) me, Kristin Karthum Hansen, Camilla Hagen and Jenny Norin. Me and Jenny are Swedish and Kristin and Camilla Norwegian, so it’s a Nordic VFS team (vertical formation skydiving).

Our team does not in any way have huge ambitions. The goal is to learn, have fun and to show other girls and women in the sport that the VFS thing is possible for female flyers too We might take part in the Nordic Championships in August, just for fun, if it all works out well.

Anyway, it was the first time we all flew together and it was awesome. We all come from very different backgrounds. I’m the veteran in the sky but have very little tunnel experience. Jenny has the least amount of jumps AND tunnel time and she’s learning very, very fast. Kristin is very skilfull and will be part of one of the Norwegian National Freefly Teams during 2010, while Camilla is a real pro with a tunnel team/project of her own called Voss Ventus.

I will post a video clip of our training as soon as I can.

By the way, Felix was with me during the trip and as usual he is such a lovely baby to travel with. And many, many thanks to Alex, Elise, Malin, Fanny and all you others who kept him company and watched over him while I was flying

We’re bidding!

http://www.hemnet.se/beskrivning/571460

Magical winter

The cold, real winter is still here. Oh, so beautiful. This is what it looks like when we walk through the park every morning on our way to daycare. Joanna is posing with her friend Charlie.

Back home again

The bassinetts that are used for small babies on long flights can really save a parent’s back. They are attached to the wall and mean that you can put the baby down when he or she sleeps or just feel like lying down and play. There’s a lot of carrying to be done on a long trip anyway.

But it amazed me to see that Felix was almost too big for the bassinett already. When Joanna was one she weighed slightly more than 10 kilos and we lied a little to be able to use a bassinett for her. With Felix, that will definitely not be possible in seven months time. He is only five months old but almost as big as Joanna was when she was one year old: probably around 8,5 kilos and around 62 centimeters long.

When Felix and I landed we were really happy to see grandpa Harald there, which meant we got a car ride back to town instead of having to use the buses. And when we opened the door, this is what we saw:

Two darlings that had passed out on the sofa, from sleeplessness and jetlag. We still fight somewhat with the jetlag, but will probably be back in our ordinary rhythm in a couple of days.

Here at home the weather is very, very cold and very, very beautiful with heaps of white snow everywhere. The first day Joanna and I took on our nice Vancouver 2010-mittens that we got from Wendela in Canada and climbed out in the snow. Great fun! But after 30 minutes it was cold enough for us to take a break for hot chocolate. Which wasn’t very bad either

Australian friends

The last day in Australia, Joanna and Alyssa finally met. We had been staying in Alyssa’s family’s house the whole time, since they were in Singapore over Christmas. Alyssa’s dad is Henny’s brother and the two girls have met once before: at Henny’s and Oliver’s wedding in Bali 2006.

They were so small then: Joanna was only 1,5 and Alyssa 3 years old. But they know about and have been updated about each other during all this time.

Joanna was thrilled to meet the girl whose toys she had been playing with for two weeks. She was very affectionate, something that seemed to make Alyssa a bit shy. Anyhow, they were really sweet together. Two girls, living as far away from each other as possible on our planet, still sharing a connection.

The fact that Alyssa returned home to Sydney also meant that Trixie was returned back to their house. Alyssa’s little dog had been staying with Murphy, Oliver and Henny, while her family was on vacation.

Joanna was truly sad to leave the dogs; they really became her friends. Watch this.