Daily Jamie

And We Are Boring

Sick day number four and we are B.O.R.E.D. up in this.

Daily Jamie

One Step Back

Jamie has a case of croup, which became pretty terrifyingly evident in the middle of the night. Terrifying, that is, if you don't know what croup is and think it sounds like your child is drowning in phlegm. I called the nurse hotline at three-thirty a.m. and they calmed me down, but I booked an appointment at the doctor first thing in the morning just to confirm that the nurses were right and it was, in fact, croup that was making Jambo bark like a seal all night long. Thing is, though, the doctors' office is, like, the only place worse than preschool when it comes to collecting germs. I mean, have you ever seen a nastier-looking tower of blocks? And you KNOW that it was sick kids playing with them. This kid got a scrub-down with hand sanitizer when we got home and I felt a little better. Until, that is, he peeled off his socks and did this:

Daily Jamie

The Business Cas Fashion Show

The business casual is back, baby! This is my favorite outfit of the moment. It's a silky blouse that I got to help me look professional before a visit from corporate and while I didn't plan to wear it like this, I love the combo of dressy and laid-back with this sweatshirt blazer.

Another sweatshirt blazer! I wore this open over my favorite beaded tank top and thought I looked pretty cute until my husband told me that he absolutely hates the tank (this after almost six years of wearing it) so I buttoned up and liked the look even better.

This is my first peplum and it was a Christmas gift from The Swede. Invest in a peplum blouse, girls. It'll make ya feel like a lady. 

Here's the other dressy blouse I got for the visit from corporate, paired with my trusty, comfy grey jeans and fuchsia wedges...

...and here it is again, as intended, as part of the professional ensemble. And not during the same week, obvs. I'm not crazy. But I get how you might think that seeing as I'm wearing a black top and shoes and navy blue pants. This is something I never, ever thought I'd do but apparently (in Sweden anyway) you can mix black and navy. I know. Socialists, am I right?

Daily Jamie

Lil' sicky didn't get out of his jammies all day. Pretty boring for the kid, pretty cozy for his mom. 

Wanna Dance?

I've liked this song since I heard it on Despicable Me 2. I've LOVED it since I saw this video. P.S. Did I ever tell you about the time The Swede went on a business trip to Cleveland without me and saw Pharrell at the airport? SO JEALOUS.

Daily Jamie

January 23rd

January 24th

January 25th

January 26th

Company

Hey, dudes, sorry about my absence the past couple of days. Our internet was out and I don't like blogging from my phone since the layout never turns out how I want it. Anyway, let's get caught up. 

 

On Thursday we had Mama and Papa Swede, Gurra, and Gunilla over for dinner. It wasn't a celebration, really, but I wanted to mark Jamie's half-birthday with something special because I'm just like that. You may have noticed. Anyway, they were very kind about my, frankly, less-than-flavorful pierogies and we had a really nice evening. They weren't over for long since it was a weeknight, but it was fun to mix up our daily routine and host a low-key dinner party and The Swede and I both agreed we ought to do it more often.

The Song

This article  was the first thing I read this morning. It showed up on my Facebook feed and it made my day.

Daily Jamie

Dumplin'

Tomorrow we're having company for dinner so I just spent the last two hours prepping from-scratch pierogies to be panfried just before our guests arrive. I've never made pierogies before so this is a little risky, but if they're any good I'll post the recipe tomorrow. Otherwise, to my guests, if you read this: take this as a warning that you may need to make a stop at McDonald's on the way home. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Got Lots

 

It was SO not my idea to run out and make a purchase when the ice cream truck stopped on our frozen street. It was also not me who popped out onto the porch and shouted "GET LOTS!" after I begrudgingly conceded. It was me, however, who picked out the pint with the appropriate lid, because I am, if anything, a wiseacre. 

Daily Jamie

Our Newest Friend

Erin called me at two-thirty on Saturday morning. Her water had broken and she wanted to warn me that sometime in the next twenty-four hours my babysitting services would be needed. I drove the hour to their house late Saturday afternoon and hung out with Ossian while they went to the hospital. Shortly after Ossian fell asleep, and only three hours after they had left home, I got a text with a picture of Erin cuddling her new baby boy. I spent the rest of the night at their place with Ossian and then headed to meet the little guy when Svante got home. Erin was effervescent. I couldn't believe how well-rested, energetic, and normal she was. She was basically the opposite of how I was after having Jamie, so it was totally impressive to see. And then there was the baby (who doesn't have a name yet). He was so sweet and soft and tiny! He slept in my arms for over two hours while we talked about the birth, what it's going to be like to have two kids, and how awesome the ones we both already had are. I'm so excited to get to know this little guy and feel very privileged to have gotten to meet him already. Welcome to the world, little one!

Daily Jamie

Accidents Happen

Today we took Jamie out on the snow racer and he asked us to go into the fenced-in football field in our neighborhood that was covered in untouched snow. The Swede was pulling the sled and pretending that they were football players scoring goals and Jamie loved it. Then he decided to do a bicycle kick (at 1:00, but the rest isn't half bad either. You'll see.) and everything fell apart. Literally. He made a sharp turn with the sled and it turned over, spilling Jamie over into the snow. And yeah, I should have gone in to comfort him too, but I had to record this moment because it reminded me so much of the events of another snowy outing about twenty-six years ago when my sister was Jamie's age. She came down the slide, followed by my mom, too soon, who crushed her, causing her to make the exact same face Jamie made here. We have a home movie of the incident and it's a family classic. Maybe someday Jamie will have the same warm fuzzies over this picture.

Daily Jamie

Roll On May Sixteenth

As you can see on the right, I've already Instagrammed this picture that Selah sent me super early this morning Swedish time, but I'm just really excited. You see, she and Andy just bought tickets to come here for nine days at the end of May, the very best time to visit Sweden. You guys, I am so pumped. We had a lot of fun things planned this year anyway, but this really put 2014 over the edge of awesomeness. I don't like to wish away time, but the sooner May comes the better.  

Daily Jamie

In Print

There was a glitch in the postal system here a few weeks back that caused a Christmas package sent by my grandparents to arrive after the holidays, but that's fine by me as I'm always happy to open a package, holiday or not. I was especially excited when I saw what was inside: an attractively-framed print of Jambo's first and second names made with the vintage printing press housed at the Bedford Historical Society where my grandma has worked and volunteered for several years. It is really one of a kind and if you look closely you can see the very slight imperfections of the printing method that make this so much more special than anything you could create on a computer. It is a keepsake that we will treasure, particularly because it was made in a place that has been significant to my extended family for as long as I can remember.

Daily Jamie

All You Need Is Love

Last night a string of row houses, much like ours, burned to the ground in our town. Nobody was hurt, THANK GOD, but eight families lost their homes. Sarianne sent us a screen-shot from her Facebook page this afternoon where someone has posted a request for donations of clothes, toys, and baby items so as soon as The Swede and I got home from work we cleaned out all of the closets and toy boxes and packed the car to the brim. The air was still thick with smoke as I  approached the affected neighborhood and I took the smell home with me on my hair. I also took home a very warm heart, as this was the scene that greeted me at the community center where they were collecting donations. This was just the entrance; there was much more deeper into the connecting rooms, and I was forced to sling our bags on top of a high pile. And I loved where we live and I loved my neighbors, even the ones I've never met.

Daily Jamie

Great Expectations

I contributed to a big, important presentation for the CEO and a few vice presidents from our company's headquarters this morning. It was something I've been working hard to prepare and have been nervous about for weeks, so the fact that it went really well called for celebration. I picked up a bottle of bubbly on the way home, but since I'm waiting from a call to come and babysit my second-favorite little boy while he gets a new sibling, I stuck to non-alcoholic. Since I'm not the pregnant one, though, I did go all in with the sushi. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Snow, Finally

 

We waited so long for snow this winter that when it finally came, early, early Saturday morning, we were totally ready. In fact, last night when we got home from Ingvor and Roland's, Jamie and I took a walk around the neighborhood in the dark and tested out the snow racer he got for Christmas and hand-brushed of all of our neighbors' cars. And today we really lived it up, zooming around and meeting up with Jamie's buddy Axel in the park for a snowball fight. I think we'd all agree that it was definitely worth the wait. 

Sit!

Jamie spent the day and night with Mama Swede yesterday since The Swede and I were at a party at work and when we went to pick him up this morning they had walked over to Ingvor and Roland's and were hanging with them. They had two huge boxes of cars and Legos that kept Jamie busy literally all day as we were there for seven hours and he didn't stop playing for a second. Their son, Per, and his girlfriend and their two dogs stopped by for a couple of hours, too, which was a dream come true since I've been longing to cuddle their pug puppy for several weeks. Jamie was more interested in the cars than the dogs, but he did pick up a new word… well, command, really: SIT! We hadn't planned to spend the day like that, but it was really, really nice to spend time with their family and with Mama Swede (who, incidentally, was on fire and cracking jokes right and left) and we promised ourselves to pop in on them more often. 

Daily Jamie

January 10th

January 11th

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

December 7th

December 8th

Women Be Shopping

Typically one or two of the girls from work and I will spend our lunch break at the nearby mall, window shopping, running errands, getting groceries for our families, picking up Subway for The Swede, and, every once in awhile, actually eating lunch. Getting away from the office for an hour is something we look forward to all morning and appreciate the rest of the day. Today, though, Emelie and I were so busy that we had to spend our lunch break on official business. Sure, we were at the mall, but we were getting supplies for the party that we're throwing at work on Friday and it was so intense that we both worked up a sweat. And yeah, it was more fun than what we had been doing all morning and what we did the rest of the afternoon, but we were glad that it was just for today, that things will settle down, and maybe tomorrow we can spend that hour at the mall on ourselves again.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

January 4th

January 5th

Getting Around To It

We were supposed to get together for a glögg fest before Christmas, then, due to scheduling difficulties, said we'd for sure do it between Christmas and New Year's. Well, it's the fifth of January and we finally got around to our glögg fest only, whoops, we forgot the glögg! If you wanna talk about  southwest lasagna, apple pie, and screaming toddler fests, though, this one couldn't be beat. Jamie refused to be in the selfie, but he would have been giving two enthusiastic thumbs up otherwise. 

Daily Jamie

January 1st 

January 2nd

January 3rd