Been a while...

I have been wanting to make a post for a while but I have either been distracted having to do something, or too tired to post.. Buuuuut here it goes :)

Where to start...

I guess we can start with the therapy.. It is actually going better.. One week she wanted me to write down what I have been doing for a whole week and rate my actions 1 being me feeling horrid 10 being me feeling amazing.. The week after she asked me to think over what my week had looked like, and what I wish a perfect week would look like. And it actually made me sit down and think about how I wanted things to be. My husband and I talked about it, and we are trying to take small steps towards the "perfect week". Being able to think about it and agree that we would like our weeks look that way has been bringing us closer.

And last week, well last week we opened the "mother load" lol.. Aka we talked about my relationship with mother.. How she has been to me through the years.. We didn't really get to go into it expect from me talking about our background, but it felt soooo good to see the shrinks face when I was talking about her.. She was completely shocked, and she was nodding and shaking her head... That alone makes me really realize that our problems isn't only in my head.. We have couple of more sessions planned and then we are supposed to evaluate if I need to keep seeing her, and if I get my way we will keep at it.

My allover mood is much better.. I haven't had more than one or two episodes where I have felt really down the last weeks, and I can not remember the last time I felt this ok.. Things aren't normal, but things are OK, and it is easy to see how it is also affecting our family dynamic. We are all more relaxed, and generally happier.

As far as work and my sick leave, I have been working half days, and it is actually working fine. Today I was approached by the manager of another team in our company, about starting to do some project for her dep. and I have been wanting to work in that dep. ever since I started working for that company. So I am really looking forward to that. I am also going to have a talk to my manager on either Monday or Thursday about a raise. And this means I can push them a little further. And more money would really help right now..
I am supposed to meet this person about my leave (she works for place that pays out the money while you are on the leave). I am not looking forward to it.. I just don't want to talk to some random person about the reason why I am on the leave... Ugh...

Anywho... The reason why money would help is because we are looking into moving into a house. We are going to look at one this Sunday, and it is the first place I have seen in ages that would actually fit us, and which we could afford... I really hope the house is as good as it looks in the picture, and that there wont be a whole bunch of people bidding over what we can afford... So keep them crossed ladies.. !

As far as my weight goes, it has been going up and down, and I haven't been really watching my eats, until a week ago. I have started the low carb high fat diet again, and I am going to stay at it for now. I am down 5lbs and am looking forward to lose more.

I guess that is it for now :) Have a great weekend ladies.


<3

Semi vegetarian..

(Or even flexitarian if you feel more comfo with that term) - Is what this household is now.. We have talked about it and 4 out of 7 dinner/lunch meals we have are going to be vegetarian now.. I managed to get hubby to agree to this with a "imagine how much money we can save" comment..

Our income is much lower than it used to be after I went on my leave, and with the formula, diapers and everything else the kid needs, our monthly "food" cost has been over budget every single month.. Being lazy and buying partly made meals, or even things like sauces in jar ect has also been a reason why we have been going over budget.. So I told him about my idea and he is agreeing to it.. So the idea is to have fish one day, chicken another, and meat of some sort the third and veggie dishes for the rest.. And I am really looking forward to cook up some new stuff and to try a bunch of recipes I have put on hold..

I bought the Happy Herbivore cookbooks from amazon and I have the skinny bitch cookbook (along with lovely Claires blog ) which are vegan recipes and I am hoping to use them to ease us into eating more and more plant-based food. I don't think I will ever manage to go 100% vegan or vegetarian for that matter, but I think this is a huge step into the right direction..

There is one thing I am really confused about though.. What do you eat for breakfast besides eggs/jams when you want to reduce animal based products??? Any ideas?

I am also hoping to introduce juicing (I juice from time to time, but hubby hates it.. ) to him and to the baby when that time comes..

Do you guys have any vegetarian blogs/ cookbooks/ recipies you love? - If you do, please do share..

Money and some gain...

Of course I have gained after our pizza date last night... It really makes me think that how much it's not worth it! Having the pizza that is.. I feel tired and very bloated and I was insanely thirsty all night...
Then I saw on Undressed Skeleton's Facebook page that they had a really healthy food for their date night.. I really need to learn that date nights - or having friends over - dinner parties ect does not have to equal fatty yucky food that makes you feel horrid the day after.. These food hangovers are just not worth it... Next time we want pizza, I am going to make it at home, and try to have either wholemeal or cauliflower crust for mine.. Cause this is a feeling I rather not have again.

Today I am going to have loads of water - some green tea, and then shakes.. For dinner I am going to have vegetable soup or the veggie omelette I made the other day.

Anyways.. New start today.. And lesson learned!


Did you guys have fun? :) My hubby surprised me by getting me this wallet I wanted from desigual - I am so bad on spending money on things for my self when they cost a tad more than what I think they should cost.. So I was really glad that he got it for me :) - I rarely use a purse now that I have the pram and the changing bag to tag along.. And this one fits perfectly in the holder thingi I have hanging on the pram :)

Yesterday I got some good news :)

I don't know if anyone remembers - but the last time I met my grandmother (My fathers mother) - she told me she had bought an apartment for me in Iran.. And to be honest I am not going to ever live in Iran. When my son was born I asked her to sell it and send me the money. The place is sold and I got 2/3 of the money they sold it for in my account yesterday - and I will receive the rest next month! My income has gone down to like under half of what I normally get since I am on my leave and the money was really good news for me! I am going to use most of it to pay off most of this loan I have back in Norway (after one of my disaster relationships) which means I will be able to pay off the whole thing by end of this year - which again means I will have around 300 dollars to use on whatever each month!

Annnnnd I am going to spend some of it to get my license! I wanted to do it before I got pregnant - but as you know the pregnancy wasn't exactly planned and with all the illness and the foggy brain I was in no shape to do it last year.. I am going to start driving a tad with hubby after he comes back from his work trip in March and then enroll on this intensive class and hopefully I will have it before summer time! Being able to drive will mean so much more freedom for me - it will be great to be able to let hubby in charge of the kid when he is home and just get to the gym - or go for a coffee or just a drive to get away.

Talking about the gym. I have decided to put off getting a membership until after I get my license too. The weather should be clearing up in a couple of weeks and I really want to start running outside. I have found this gym that does have child care, but they wont take in kids that are younger than 6 months old... And the kid is 3 next month.. So it means I would have to go after hubby gets home - and all in all it would be more of a hassle than a joy right now. I don't want to pay a bunch of cash (beside what my work pays) for a membership that would barely get used in 2-3 months.. So I think it's better to wait.

Anyways :)  I am going to be off for now - hope you all have a wonderful day!

<3

Life..

I have been home from work since last Wednesday.. I just haven't been able to "force" my self to go to work.. It really upsets me, cause I have been wanting to be full time at work, as long as possible.. But lately, I just can't be arsed... The new guy I told you about in my last post sucks.. I have told my boss about it.. And they still wanted to give him a couple of more weeks before they decide how it goes.. I know, it's not up to me hwo they keep and who they don't, but I really don't feel like being there, forcing my self to have a full day - when they don't really respect my opinion.. I am going back to work tomorrow, but I don't know how long I will keep it up.. As I mentioned before, I am going on my maternity leave from 12th of November - and I am already planning to call in sick the two work week before that date ( Yes I know it sounds bad - but I don't want to use my maternity leave days before I have to, when I can call in sick) - That means my last day at work will be the 29th of October.. Which means it's only 5 weeks left.. I really should just ignore how annoyed the whole work situation makes me and keep going, well unless I am in too much pain.. Right? 

*Sigh* I probably sound like a spoiled brat when I nag about my work.. But I just don't know how to deal with this thing.. I am so sick of it all :S

Other than work, I have been having money on my mind a whole lot lately. For me to be able to take the long leave that I am planning, we will have to really watch how much we spend.. My hubby just got a nice raise, so we really wont be having too much of a hard time with allt he expences, but I have been standing on my own for so long, that having him being the one who will be paying more than twice as I will be to our joint account to cover everything really has been tough on me. I know that the reason why I will having the low income is because of the baby, and because it is best for our family that I stick around until he is old enough to go to kindergarden.. But it has been tough.. Silly right?? - I mean if he was the one staying home, I would be the one paying more than he does.. So I should just shut it and be thankfull - right?? 

Anywho... 

The next few weeks are going to be packed with baby stuff.. This Thursday we have a new check-up with the midwife.. This week, we are attending Lamaze classes, and my work is actually covering the bill for it (See I should be greatful, and don't be so upset about my work... ).. The upcoming two Mondays we have "parenting" classes.. It's basicly going to be about the birth plan, and stuff like that as far as I know.. And then the 11th we are going to have another check-up with the midwife, and later the same day we will go to the hospital for a 3D/4D scan. I am really looking forward to that.. This whole becoming a monther thing is getting really real ladies.. 

I just hope that they keep telling us that the baby is healthy, and that everything is fine.. I have these dreams about stuff that can go wrong.. But I hear that it is normal.. Like every other weird thing that they tell you is normal while you are pregnant.. 

Anyways, I am going to finish this wall of text.. Thank you again for all your comments and support.. and welcome to the new followers.. Thanks for reading :) 

Oh and before I forget.. I had to activate the stupid "Please prove you're not a robot" thing on the comments after I got 30.. Yes you saw correct 30 - spam comments in one day.... :S 

Ah well.. Take good care of you ladies... <3 

* Title*

Some times it's so hard to find a proper title for posts.. Anywho..


My mom went back home this morning - and her trip has been just fine. We didn't really talk much, but I did tell her that I didn't want her to come and stay with us after the baby was born. She wanted to stay for two weeks - and her intentions are all good , but lets face it.. I would go mental.. I also think it is very important for us to be able to get our own rutines with the baby without someone else trying to tell us what to do. She tok it pretty well.. I was very surprised that she actually listened.

She had bought some baby cloths and a toy. And when she was here she bought another set of cloths and this chair we wanted for the baby. It was really nice of her cause the chair in it self was pretty expencive. I will post some more pictures of them in a late post. (I am too lazy to get up and take picture now hehe)..
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I got some questions about the parental leave here so I thought I would make a little post about it. In Norway it's pretty straight forward - you get to take 10 months and keep 100% of your regular income - or you can take 12 months for 80%.. The other parent can take 8 weeks for the full income in addition to it.

Here in Sweden it's a mess. They have so many rules and thing which really are giving me a headache.
In total we have the right to take 480 days off. Where (in our case) the father has to take 60 days. Of those 480 days you have 90 days where you get the low pay rate which is around 20 USD a day.. The rest gives you around 80% of your income pre tax. When I go on my leave my income will be around 800 USD less than what I get paid normally.. And even though we will be just fine - we wont have any room to "play", and we will depend a whole lot more on my husbands income.

So yes technicly I can take a whole year off but I really am not sure what I am going to do. I might take 10 months full time and then the rest as 50% leave and work 50% .. I really have to think about what will be best for us.. All of us..

That said the goverments in the nordics give this monthly amount of money for the kids until they turn 18. For one kid it's around 175 USD - and for two it's around 340 USD ( I know for a fact that I wont have more than two kids - so the other amounts aren't really relevant for us)..

So erm ya .. I hope it explains it a bit better hehe ..

Anywho.. I am going to go off for now.. I have loads on my mind lately.. I should make a post about that too soon... I sure need to vent - but right now, my head is a little to messy..

<3