Now that spring has (finally!) come to our part of Sweden, communities are having their biannual fixardagar or städdagar (fixing days or cleaning days). Most communities, be they neighborhoods, marinas, apartment or condo associations, or parent-cooperative preschools, have a day in the spring (and another in the fall) when members of the community get together to do whatever...
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Raising Gender-Neutral Kids in Sweden
Last Thursday, when I arrived at school to pick up the boys before the long weekend, Leif was wearing a hot pink skirt over his pants. They'd done some dress-up for Easter and he hadn't taken off the skirt yet. When I commented on it ("I love your pink skirt!"), he seemed pleased and proud, then continued to...
The Baby Sleep Situation
Sorry for my brief hiatus from this space. As you may already know or might have guessed, life with a newborn is no joke. While we're actually getting along quite well as a new family of five, it's still hard. Zoë sleeps well once she finally settles into a good sleep but only if I stay...
Great Parenting Books That Don't Make Me Feel Like a Shitty Mother
I have to admit: I'm a fairly confident parent. Not confident that I do everything perfectly, or that every decision I make is Right, or that I couldn't possibly be raising my children any better, but confident that I'm mostly doing the best that I can do and that my children are emotionally and physically healthy. I generally trust my...
An Alternative to Journaling: Micro-Journaling
In my footloose and fancy-free days, I whiled away a lot of hours in cafes, drinking tea (later lattes) and scribbling in a journal. I've got a stack of classic black Moleskines to prove it. I'd paste in ticket stubs and magazine images, copy down quotes, and, of course, reflect on whatever was going on in my life at the time....
Using My Superpower: Donating Breastmilk
The closest thing I have to a superpower is lactating. Making food that another human can eat—and thrive on—from my own flesh (well, technically my blood) has always been and always will be absolutely miraculous to me. And like any true superpower, I can use it for the highest good: saving lives.
Baby Girl Gets a Name!
Baby girl is three weeks old today, which makes it high time for her to get a name! We've been having a hard time making a decision, as our final contenders all seemed to fit. But, after three weeks of delaying and trying out the finalists, and then a couple days of calling her just one of...
A Great Thing Sweden Does For New Babies (and Their Families)
I remember the first time we went to the pediatrician when August, our first, was born. It was within the first week of leaving the hospital, and it was our first excursion out of the house with the baby. It took us at least thirty minutes to get ready—we had to pack the diaper bag, get...
What's the Deal With Cutting the Cord?
I'm curious—did you (or your partner, husband, baby's father, baby's other mother, etc.) cut the umbilical cord after you delivered the baby? It seems to be this momentous things that fathers (or one of the aforementioned others) are supposed to do. With all three of our children's births, James was handed the scissors at the appropriate time...
Some Thoughts on the Postpartum Period
Little Bing-Bong is ten days old today. We've been home for eight of those, adjusting to life as a new family of five—mostly this means adjusting to being the mother of a newborn again. I was inspired by this post on one of my favorite blogs, Reading My Tea Leaves, to share with you what this...