Bad sleep and sushi

I thought it was cold yesterday but today we woke up to -21 C and then it is usually really cold, like 9 c in the kitchen but wonders off wonders. My lovely husband had been up working half the night and had been putting fire in the wood burner and putting it on low so when I came down this morning it was a stunning 15,5 ^oC which is fab. I do not like being cold at all inside so that was a fantastic start off the day. The night was a bit shitty though. My husband got up sometime – god knows when – to work, our 3 years old also woke up discovering he was thirsty, hungry, wanting company and so on. My husband is better at being up at night so he took care off it even though there was a lot off getting in and out off bed. Do need to mention that we are restoring 2 bedrooms at the time so all off us except 13 year old daughter sleep in the same room (something we found extremely cozy in the beginning but not so great now).

Back in bed all off us, Forrest started crying because he could not find his new fart cushion. Husband managed to find it before the rest of the clan woke up. Just asleep, our fire alarm started beeping. Not a lot as in fire but a little as in low battery please change and we were so tired we did not realize it was the fire alarm but thought it was something rather passing. Like it would be at 4 in the morning! Well that is just a taste off my thinking. After what seemed ages my husband went down (climbing over all off us in bed - again) but did not manage to get the alarm thingies down so I got down and got a chair out, still did not reach, got a casserole on top off the chair and then three phonebooks and reached but could not still get it out without breaking it. A big treat though it happened to be, to be up in the morning alone. Made a cup off mint tea, and went to get some firewood.

When it is really cold like -20 it becomes so quiet. The air just kind of stands still and you can hear noises like a car or something kilometers away. At this time in the morning though there were no cars around just me and the cats. Not even the birds were up and it is completely magic when the world around you is just white and quiet. That charges your batteries for a looong time!

Another small wonder that happened last night – or should I say 2 wonders were that first daughter 13 year old found a new sweater she wanted to buy. She loves her old clothes and wears them to rugs. She was so pretty in a light turquoise hood jacket. And then we took her to our favorite sushi place Ippai Ippai and she loved it. She usually throws up if you mention sushi which is a pity since the rest off us love it but yesterday she scoffed! Hale Mary!

At 19.00 we had the charming sushi place all by ourselves which helps because Swedish people become rather irritated when you bring kids to a restaurant. I ones asked why and the woman said -You bring 5 kids to take up half the space in the restaurant and then they are not going to eat are they? –But off course they are why would I bring 5 children to a restaurant if only me and my husband would eat? She then irritated pointed out that children do not eat sushi. Oh revelation, then it must be little grownups we are having because our kids love sushi and another important issue is that as they do they are actually busy eating not running around screaming in the restaurant. I find that really sad that kids are not welcome in restaurants in Sweden – not by the staff but by other guests.

But when we are off on vacation in south Europe we think it is so charming with kids running around. It is a big treat for us to go out and eat and we do not do it very often but it would be a little more pleasant for us parents if we could bring our kids to more places then IKEA to eat. And a weird thing being at IKEA is that the tables at the children corner are occupied with older people without children! Must be that we do love children so much and want to be around them, we just forget it in a sushi place and remember it at IKEA. Let’s remember it a little more! In New Zealand they often put a basket full with toys so that kids can be occupied with that while the parents are eating, good idea. Last night a little sweaty hand suddenly landed on my cheek and a little voice said –You are just so cute mum (du är bara så söt mamma). Now I hear little noises up stairs and it is 9 am, the little once slept until now! And wait, the noises are not so little, they are big noises from the fart cushions they got yesterday followed by hysterical laughers.