Tuesday, July 29, 2008

What I buy at the store every three days.


I'm sure most people look at me like I'm nuts as I'm loading up my little cart with WAY more milk than anyone else, but I have gotten over the embarrassment of buying this many liters of milk. :)

This is the equivalent of only 3.5 gallons of milk... I squish four or five of these empty things every day.

no. no baby. i love you all - stop asking. :)


...Hi Julie! Don't be too impressed with my energy, we'll see how well I do with FOUR kids. I'm sure they'll be eating store bought Denmark cookies soon enough. I do admit to feeling some jealously when you mentioned your tollhouse cookies. YUM!! If I could buy them I would!! (And for the record I think one kid is harder. You can still taste the childless-carefree days; I've long forgotten them. Plus my older kids can do half of my work for me!)

Monday, July 28, 2008

Cookies

We made cookies! No, no baby. Thanks for asking... :)

...and when I say we "made" cookies, we really did. Like with flour and sugar and eggs and stuff! It's neat how you mix all that stuff together and it tastes good. I'm pretty impressed with vanilla extract myself.

I had ordered some new cookbooks online and got a baking book too. Ever since I've understood the difference between "cooking" and "baking" I've been afraid to "bake" anything. With cooking you can put in whatever you want and leave out what you don't want because leaving out mushrooms won't ruin the meal. However my understanding of baking is that it has to be pretty exact. I'm not sure what the difference is between baking powder or baking soda is but the book seems to stress that you get it right and put the right amount in. (who really weighs it though?) ...and with baking you just have to wait and see what happens at the end. Once your cookies are in the oven they'll either be yummy or not. Cooking is a little more forgiving... you can taste it as you go and stir in extra things to fix it as necessary... add more flour or milk and then in the end when it doesn't taste like anything you can just add some salt or cheese. :)

Of course that said I don't think baking is too scary. I didn't measure things too exact and found myself pulling out the egg white and trying to trade it for the egg yolk I was supposed to put in. I have no idea what kind of flour I used either... and the cookies still tasted like cookies. I just don't have the patience for exact measurements. (and I only have two measuring spoons - a 1/2 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.) :)

Anyways, I've baked cookies once or twice before but it's still scary. I still haven't recovered from my mom banning me from making cookies because I wasted so many ingredients.... :) but I was excited to have found real brown sugar, opposed to regular sugar with brown molasses grains mixed in, that we decided to bake. Not like I am giving birth anytime soon - may as well make cookies right?! So we have about 50 chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies in the kitchen that we made this weekend. :) They turned out pretty good so we shared with our new friends.

Okay, so they aren't even really chocolate chip cookies because I couldn't find any chocolate chips! I was going to cut up a chocolate bar but then found these chocolate shavings but they weren't chocolaty enough. :)

There are some things that I think I will continue to make from scratch after this little stint in Denmark. Frosting. Frosting is much yummier when you make it yourself and it doesn't take that long to do. Lasagna. Homemade Lasagna is way better than any frozen stuff and it's easy too. However, I think Tollhouse cookies have perfected the frozen "break and bake" chocolate chip cookies. They will be hard to beat. I'll try a few more times over the next year but I think frozen cookie dough will win in the end. :) Oh, and Pie crust I will only make from scratch if desperate. I hate making pie crust. :)

Friday, July 25, 2008

Velkommen til AGF Svømning

Tak for din tilmelding, vi glæder os til at se dig i vandet!

***LOOK WHAT I DID***

I signed Michaela up for Swimming Lessons!! HAHA!! I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... I don't know how to pay, where to go, or how long it lasts - BUT I know Mondays from 16:40 to 17:20 she will be swimming. :)

I'm not quite sure this is coming across as a big of an accomplishment as it is! I'm super proud of myself. Whoo Hoooo!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

More new friends

Tomorrow is the last day of the girls "Latin American Camp". I've been really impressed with the whole thing too. They've fed them yummy breakfast and lunch and made crafts... and it was all free! I would have paid for this all happily. I'm really glad they went. They have even made a couple of new friends with some Danish girls who speak some English because they have lived outside of Denmark for a while. These girls helped translate for Michaela and Sierra along the way and even waited for them every morning to make sure they knew where to go. :) Very nice little girls - sames ages too. They live nearby and we are planning to invite them over next week. We have their number! YAY! Their mom is very nice too - very sympathetic with my current pregnancy situation. :)

OH! The girls have also rode the bus by themselves. This is a HUGE accomplishment for them and me! Armed with their new phone they have come home by themselves the last two days... (with just one wrong turn and a few phone calls along the way to make me feel better). They have even managed a stop at the shopping center for ice cream! : ) This is impressive too because even I hate ordering things from someone in a different language. Now I need to train them to retrieve milk and various other grocery items and I'll be all set!

I'm off to bed now - another week with just three kids. UGH. If that due date comes and goes I will cry. :( I'm now confident I'll be fat until August... that's just how it goes - oh well. :)

Michaela's New Hair Cut



Here's Michaela's new short hair cut. Don't tell her it's cute. Tell her it's "cool". We are now too old for "cute". :)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Nope...





Well. No baby yet - BUT here is her crib! :)

I think the pink birds are too cute. See there are a mommy and daddy bird and four baby birds. :) We got the little crib/bassinet for downstairs. It's like an odd in-between size of a bassinet and a crib.

As for my hopes of baby coming tonight - not too good. I haven't felt a thing all day (aside from her kicking and squirming). So moving on...

A new family (english speaking) moved in around the corner from our house just a five minute walk! It gets better... They have two girls who are 10 and 8! How great is that?!?! They moved here with Pauls' work and will also be going to the same school and everything. Cute kids and nice mom - so needless to say we are happy. We only met them 28 hours ago and have been to each other houses to play and the girls are getting along great.

One of the other moms at school said something that I wouldn't have really thought of. She mentioned that she really enjoyed the "ex-pat" community... meaning "the group of people who are relocated from their normal lives into a foreign place and trying to survive". At first I thought she was nuts to actually enjoy it, but I now totally agree. In the year we lived in Portland I met maybe a few moms... and never really got to know any of them. Here I have made some friends that I know will I will keep forever and I've only been here for nine months.

Of course being here I've had to put forth effort. I've called people and instigated playdates and outings etc... Where as in Portland I was the "new mom" and assumed others were supposed to "welcome me in". Back in the States I couldn't even imagine myself just calling one of the girls' friends' moms on the phone and inviting them over to hang out for the morning. But here if I sat back and didn't try to be involved I'd die of boredom and drag my kids down with me!

SO. I too prefer the small little group of families who are all "stuck here" rather than a giant public school with nameless parents everywhere. :) Here we all appreciate each other much more - even the kids appreciate each other more. To have a new family move in is actually something that everyone is really excited about! More friends! So that said - our wonderful friends will all gradually start returning from their holidays this weekend and by mid-August everyone should be back in time for school to start on the 13th. YAY.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Nope

If I stop writing does it mean I've had the baby and I am too busy? OR I'm bitter and angry at still being uncomfortable and now I'm refusing to talk about it?

Let's just say I'm still uncomfortable - HOWEVER I think I've been having contractions off and on all day... who knows. I'd hate to get my hopes up. : ) Over the past few hours they've been more frequent I'd guess, but not too painful or regular. Scotty and I spent the whole day shopping and walking around town. - No sense in sitting at home wondering...

I just don't remember how this works! I know with Scotty I had a lot of things planned the week he was due: Sierra's birthday, my birthday, opening day of soccer season, etc... The doctor asked if Monday at 2:00 pm worked, I showed up at the hospital, had a nice shot, and had a son around 7:00 pm. :) Sounds like a pretty reasonable plan to me. Oh well. It's night time now so I'd like to postpone it until after 9:00 am tomorrow so I can get the girls to their class. I'm tired too...

...and to answer my first question. I will probably stop writing for a while. :) I'm sorry I'm not as dedicated as I perhaps should be. I'll have my mom leave a comment here - how about that? Going to bed now.

me

Monday, July 21, 2008

Girls Frist Day!

The girls had their first day of "Danish Latin American" class today.

They had fun! They want to go back! Score one point for Mommy!

I was really worried they would hate it and they would be completly lost. I would have been scared to go. I'm impressed with them. Of course, I lied to them continounsly and told them how wonderful and fun it was going to be. :) That's my job as a mom, right?

We got there and I met the lady I had emailed back and forth with and so she knew Michaela and Sierra. She was very nice to them and showed them around so that made me feel better leaving them alone in a Danish enviornement.

Anyways, they didn't learn anything but they had fun and were out of the house from 9-3 so everyone is happy... except for Scotty who wasn't used to his big sisters leaving him for the day. He was a little lonely so we visited some parks. :)

The best part is that this place is pretty close; it's just a short bus ride and an easy 5 minute walk so the girls could even do it on their own... maybe. :) AND they may offer fun things year round. I have some translating to do to find out.

So today was good. Oh and I'm still on my "have-a-baby-tonight-plan". I cleaned the entire house and all the laundry is done. Extra dinners have been made and frozen and I someone is even back from vacation to watch the kids if necessary. :) I'm all set!

...and if I don't have the baby tonight I don't want to talk about it. :)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Midwife Appointment

I had my last midwife appointment. Hopefully. :) I finally asked if they will do anything different at any future midwife appointments and, nope, they will not. They will continue to check my blood pressure, confirm the baby's heartbeat is there, and measure my belly. ...and these things aren't exciting. I'd rather hear I'm dilated to 2.5 so I can feel as if my uncomfortablness thus far has been worth something... but then again that sometimes makes it worse to think something productive has occured when it really doesn't matter. ...and I know enough to know that 2.5 centimeters means absolutly nothing.

Let's just all agree I'm not going to be happy until the baby is safely out and I am in a relatively pain free state.

I do have another midwife appointment scheduled for August 1st, but I'm really hoping I don't have to suffer until then. The baby is ready to be born - I'm the mommy and I said so... that and my back and legs are killing me! I don't care how amusing it would be to have one more birthday in August. That said I would still bet the baby is born on August 1st. ...for no particular reason at all.

My mom offered little sympathy on the phone today. She wants me to stay pregnant as long as possible so the baby won't be too old when she gets here on September 1st. Hmmmmpp.

Anyways, the midwife I met with was great! I was happy! YAY. She spoke English and answered all my questions with answers that made me happy. She even taught me a few secret tricks to get what I want while in the hospital :) She was so very nice and is now my favorite Danish person; she's just my favorite person of all right now! I wish I'd see her again... : ) But I do know she works this Monday in the Delivery section so that's when I'm planning to have the baby. Sounds like a great plan to me!!!

I'm going to go drink my nightly glass of chocolate milk that my husband has made for me. Then I'll go to bed and pray for painful contractions. :)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hospital Tour

We had a tour of the Fødeafdeling. Maternity Ward. :)

It was okay I guess. Things looked a little familiar, but they also had some things I wouldn't have been able to guess what they were for! There was about ten other couples there and then all five of us. :) (About half way through we realized that this was all going to be their first baby because - why would you need a tour of the hospital when you've had three kids before?)

Scotty only lasted about 20 minutes and then Daddy had to take him out, but the girls and I stood there for another 30 minutes while someone talked to us in Danish. We didn't understand a thing, but I've always been impressed how much body language, gestures, and tone of voice can help you get the general idea. However, I already know the "general idea" of how this all works. I caught a word or two that I knew and some english words like **EPIDURAL**, but some times it sounded like she wanted me to go to "bilka" and bring "sticks" because I kept hearing "bilka" and "stick". (Bilka is like a Walmart)

So here's a question: When someone makes a joke in a foreign language and you are in a group of people that all laugh, do you laugh too? Or do you just stand there?? I, become thankful I have kids with me, and look at them and smile.

Afterwards I went up to the midwife and said - "I've been staring at you for an hour and I have NO idea what you said." Actually I just just said that I understood a little but I don't speak Danish at all and wanted to ask some questions in English... then I stared at her hoping for an English response. She was nice. She spoke English. I think she knew I was scared. She went through some of the basics with me. She said most of the hospital midwives spoke some English, but she didn't know how well because she speaks Danish to them. :)

The whole - "doctors learn from English text books so they all speak English" idea... I believe this is a rumor that was started to make us English speakers feel better... if not just an outright lie. :)

Today I'm going back to the hospital for a midwife appointment. Good thing I got the appointment letter in the mail yesterday and took it to the hospital so they could read it to me. :)

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Wood Floors, Eggs, Sweetened Condensed Milk & Harry Potter




Our wood floors. Our wood floors are real wood... like 2x4s lying on the ground. They look pretty, it's not like a barn in here or anything, but it's odd to have plain wood. They warp and dent and gaps form between the boards, but they are pretty sturdy. We had lots of dents in an area from a rocking chair and despite being told by the owners to pour buckets of water on the floor I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Wood isn't supposed to get wet right? Well, today we tried it and it worked. The warping went away, the gaps between the boards closed up a bit, and the dents went away completely! I was quite suprised. You need a special soap that keeps the wood a light color, but we just poured buckets on the floor and sloshed it around for a while. We didn't even really try to get it all off the floor when we were done - we just to let it soak in... and now the floors look much better. :) ...and those silly girls thought it was fun!



I think the feather stuck to the egg is cute. :) This feather also makes me wonder if I should be rinsing my eggs off before cracking them... just where do these eggs come from anyways... oh yah. :)




My super find at the store!!! In this Middle Easteren type of grocery store, which I've named the "bean store" because I can buy beans there... I was paying a silly amount of money for kidney beans and I saw this can on the shelf behind the cashier. I asked him what it was and he told me and I said "NO WAY?!" Of course I bought it and wanted to try it out to see if it was what I thought it was... and it was!!! Sweetened Condensed Milk, which if you mix with cream cheese and lemon juice it makes a pie that only a pregant person could get away with consuming on her own in three days. WHOO HOO for ME!!!!!!! Too bad I didn't find out this existed here prior to hauling four cans to Denmark from the states. - but at least I don't have to ration it to myself now. I'm going back to buy more tomorrow and ask about evaporated milk... maybe even buttermilk. (You need these weird things to make things one would normally use Mr. Pillsbury Dough Boy for.)



We borrowed all the Harry Potter books from a friend. Who wants to quess how long it will be before Michaela has read them all. The first two (on the top) were finished in two days. This is why I hate buying books for this kid. :)

There are my random pictures and thoughts... Bye.
tara

Monday, July 14, 2008

Skejby

Oh yah... Skejby.

Sky Boo

Skej = Sky
by = Boo

Scott and the Potty


This morning I made what I thought was quite a valiant effort to promote pee pees in potty with little Scott.

As soon as he woke up I changed his diaper and just put on his "big boy underwear" without mentioning it to him. (since he says he "no like baby pants" -baby pants being the underwear...) He screamed and cried for a while until I quickly tossed three M&Ms at him saying he could have candy since he had on his big boy underwear. He ate his candy happily and then cried and said his underwear "hurt his bum". He complained for a while and then cried some more when I told him that he couldn't have more candy until we put pee pees in the potty. He played happily for a while and everyone in the house was on strict orders NOT to mention the underwear to him.

He didn't forget about the underwear. He'd whimper every now and then and refused to sit down in them. He even ate his breakfast of egg, toast, and raisins while standing in his chair. I thought we would try being naked... so he ran around naked for a while. BUT that didn't make him happy either.

Soon he was lying on the floor, crying/screaming/whimpering, looking up every now and then to ensure we were all giving him adequate sympathy... and it was at this point he won. :) I told him he could get a diaper. Total non-diaper time = 1.25 hours.

There are only about ten diapers left in the cupboard so I told him they were almost all gone. Maybe he'll do better when he thinks they are gone... I probably won't do much better until they really are gone! BUT he's only three (almost). I don't want potty training to be a traumatic event. Why force it? It will all go much smoother if the key participant isn't opposed to the entire idea. Right?

Friday, July 11, 2008

Pronounce it.. I dare you.

SKEJBY

Go ahead and try to say it... I'll tell you how to say it later. It's where the hospital is - the city I think. :)

This is why I'll never learn to speak Danish. I can read some okay just as long as I don't have to say it out loud. At the bakery it makes it worse when I try to sound out the name of the bread. I do much better with pointing and smiling.

tara

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Beach


I've decided that I like Danish weather*. (* The last two weeks. I won't hold myself to that statement year round.)

The weather has been in the 70s and bright and sunny. Every few days a big rainstorm comes through and it POURS for about 20 minutes. Then it's done and the sun comes back out. It's similar to Portland I think, more so than Georgia, where I remember big summer rain storms... but here it isn't humid. YAY.

So. Here are some pictures of the beach. I verified we didn't get any naked people in our pictures. :) I was suprised how many people were laying around topless... It's just normal here. Age 80 to 8 laying just lounging about. My girls seemed to ignore it or not see it... We just escorted/distracted them to a part of the beach with little kids. We did try to convince Scotty to take off his diaper because it was full of sand anyways... but my modest little boy said no. :)

For my European friends... See, in America we just don't do that. : ) There are designated "nude" beaches, but they are seculded away from others. Other than that I'm pretty sure that "open nudity" is against the law or something. I don't think I'm condemming it all together - if you grow up with it, it's normal and ignored... It's just a culture difference and I really can't judge it.

**AND. Just because I'm okay with this particular culture difference, all prenatal care should be what I'm used to. :)

tara

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Moving On...

Moving on from my last little "ugh session"... and I went to an ultrasound today to check on the size of the baby. Baby is fine, 2.4 kilos... that is just the size I make them.

Anyways, I signed the girls up for "Latinamerika i Bornhojde". : ) They will learn about Latin America... I think. I was more excited to have successfully signed them up for something. It will all be in Danish and with Danish kids though so we'll see how it goes. I've convinced them it will be fun. HA HA It will be interesting to see how they cope with Danish all around them. I am hoping it gives them a more accurate view of Danish kids/school rather than the International English private school they go to.

It's a free summer school class down the street and it goes for a week from 9am to 3pm. They will cook latin american food and learn latin american dances. Our neigherbors gave us a brochure with different week long summer activities kids can join for free. I guess we were supposed to sign up in June but we weren't here. It's really no suprise that horseback riding and trampoline camp are all filled up, while "Latinamerika i Bornhojde" has openings still. : ) It should only be mildly traumatic for them. It may come in handy should I have a baby that week... or it could backfire.

I can also try to sign them up for Beach Volleyball in August. It sounds more fun... Swimming will start soon too.

I'm not as grumpy today... will check in again tomorrow.

Monday, July 7, 2008

21 more days.

Yes, I had an appointment with a midwife today. But my midwife was sick so I met with another lady who spoke about as much English as I do Danish. Ummm. Helpfullll... not so much

So yes, the midwifes are finished with their little four month strike during which they sipped coffee on the corners and in the parks. But guess what magical happens now?! The midwife center closes for the summer. So they are now closed.

SO. After the experiencing the last 8 1/2 months pregnant here. I'd like to offer up this little tidbit of advice in hopes that it will save someone from going through what I have. Do NOT have a baby in Denmark. It is a very unintelligent thing to do.

AND for anyone whom I happen to offend... I offer my apologies. Sorry.

AND for anyone happy with their whole Danish pregnancy experience... well, yippy skippy for you.

But this is how it is supposed to go:

You find a doctor who gives you their office, pager, and cell phone number. This doctor would be available to deliver your baby any time, any day. This doctor would not go on strike or take the summer off. The nurses at the doctor's office will become your friends and call you to remind you of every appointment. You would receive a complimentary diaper bags full of coupons, magazines, diapers, health food, and other free goodies. This would make you happy.

Following every shot or blood draw, the nurses, who tell you continuously how good you look, would give you a little cookie and a drink of juice. A professional lab would test your blood for things you don't quite understand... but eventually the results will return indicating that the baby is fine. This would make you happy.

At the hospital, when you deliver the baby, you would get comfy bed and a gown to wear. An IV would be available to fill your body with any drugs to make the whole experience easier. Ice chips, drinks, and small snacks would be offered. Once your body has finished bringing another live human being into the world, the nurses would offer help for at least the next 24 hours because... gee - you are a bit tired. This would make you happy.

I am not happy. Up until now I've been perfectly agreeable and positive. New experience... new culture... blah blah blah. All done. I realize I'm going to have a baby here and I "should make the best of it"... yah. ...sounds nice to those of you not currently on schedule to deliver a baby in 21 days.

AND. NO. I won't simply delete this. ...and NO. I don't want to talk about it anymore. If this doesn't turn out to be so bad and my child is normal I will promise to write something nice.

me - hormonal, and awkward shaped.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Fourth of July!!



No hot air balloons or fireworks this year BUT we invited all our friends over for a American Pancake Breakfast! (one must differentiate between the many types of pancakes that exist within the world) :)

The kids and I decorated yesterday with all the USA goodies we picked up on our vacation. Paul was a little sad we didn't celebrate Canada Day on the 1st. Sorry - I kinda forgot. :( Canada Day is to Canada what the 4th of July is to America. Well, the same parades and fireworks I guess. I'm not sure if there are pancakes involved though. mUm?

A friend gave us a firework today so we do have ONE. It's big and rather dangerous looking so I'm sure it will be fun! ...and if we stay up until midnight it will get dark and we can see it. :) I am happy to have a firework though. I will miss our long 4th of July day.

Not that the days aren't long here... It's been light until 11:00, dusk looking about midnight, and then the birds are up chirping in the sun at 3am. No night lights needed... Luckily I don't have to get up early, because by the time I get everyone to bed it's 9:30/10:00 and then I'm not tired until it gets dark. You should believe your kids when they tell you it's hard to go to sleep when it's light outside - it is! It's also hard to stay asleep when the sun is out so early. I'm still amused when I wake up at 5am and it appears to be noon.

We bought cribs too. I tried to buy sheets and bumpers but I got confused so I left the store. :( I wasn't sure if I was buying a pillow case or a duvet cover or a fitted or flat sheet... much less of the correct size. I don't think "fitted sheet" translates into anything in Danish - maybe they don't even have them! I'll measure the mattress today and go try again tonight when I can trade Scotty for a car.

------------
Since writing that last bit I went out shopping in another attempt to buy crib items. I did it! I bought a cute pink bird bumper and a matching pillow case and duvet cover and changing pad soft thingy... very pink and cute. I'll take a picture! That may not seem like a big accomplishment but it was very difficult! I am very proud of myself! ...now this baby can come out - she has a place to sleep. (and she better be a she because I can't return any of this stuff!)

:)
tara

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails