Baby Ella is here!

A week old today, she is a bundle of gorgeous calm and content :)

(Looking just fabulous on her way home from hospital, wearing the beautiful outfit her great-grandmother knitted for her)

Environmentally, Family and Neighbourhood Friendly House!

This family home in Belgium, by BLAF Architecten, is built on Passivhaus principles, and has a front yard that asks all the neighborhood kids to come over and play! What more could you ask for?

(via inhabitat)

Grandma's knitting

I just received the bestest package from my grandmother, she knitted an outfit for our baby girl to come home from hospital in (the pink one), another whole outfit, a blanket, more mittens and another pair of socks! Here are the two outfits. She's the best!!!

Outnumbered - life with kids

If you haven't seen the BBC series Outnumbered, I suggest you get hold of it asap. It's funny because it's so true, this is life with kids!

A wonderful day!

I just had the greatest day today. I decided to cycle to work and take Sam, my littlest one along for the ride. He had a blast on his first real bicycle ride ever, and after I dropped him off at his daycare, I rode down Laugavegur, Reykjavík's main shopping street, where I love to window-shop in all the different vintage and unique design shops. I had a good day at work but decided to leave early because the weather was fantastic. Cycled home, picked Sam up on the way and being a little hot and flustered after riding uphill suggested we all go to the beach (yes, really, we also have beaches in Iceland!). We threw some drinks and finger snacks in a bag with towels and blankets and were off (the beach - Nauthólsvík - is about 10 minutes away from where we live by car). We picked George, our older one, up from school on the way and I found out that tomorrow is Pirate Day and I didn't have a costume sorted! Decided to worry about that after the beach. When we got there I quickly got the cool-down I was after, in fact we were all freezing so we decided to go home and cook a nice meal instead. After eating I hung up my grandmother's old clock that my father inherited and I'm just keeping for him. It looks great in our living room! Pictures later :) George played with his friends from next door in the garden and I called my friends to find out if anyone had a pirate costume for a 4 year old. Luckily my friend Ingibjörg had one and she lives close by, so after the kids finally went to bed at around 11 (another story) I decided to go for a run and pick up the costume. Got a nice girl talk with her as well and wasn't home until midnight! When I finally sat down by the computer, I had no idea what to write about. So I decided to tell you about my day :) How was your day, did you do anything fun?

Oh, and the photo shows the service facilities by the beach we went to, a really nice little piece of architecture by an all female architecture office, Arkibúllan.

Miabella Photography

We had María of Miabella Photography take some family photos and we are thrilled with the result. Do check out her flickr photostream for some gorgeous photography.

Autumn is upon us

I'm planning to take a walk with my three year old to gather leaves and twigs to make a mobile like this. He'll love it! Seen on Design*sponge, click here for instructions.

Today I had to laugh at myself

My husband sent me out of the house to have a relaxed cup of coffee and escape reality for about an hour. I was wearing a black dress and leggings, threw on my beige trench and grey boots. Headed downtown in my silver grey station car, stopped by the recycling station to drop off an old desk, then parked in a parking garage but bumped my car on a concrete column in the process. At this stage I was in a quiet rage, desperate not to think about how much it will cost to have this fixed (fortunately it was just a scratch so I hope I can get away with a good wash and polish). As I walked the short distance to my favorite book café I looked at my reflection in the shop windows, my sharply cut shoulder length hair matching my outfit, my fatigue clearly visible on my non made-up face. 'Motherhood', I half growled, half laughed inside.

On my way home, Nirvana's 'come as you are' played on the radio. I sang out loud, I really got into it, I was taken back to the time where I was starting my adult life, in my future I would never shout at my kids, I would never wear beige, I was always going to be the coolest person ever (whatever that entailed), I would always have time for loving my husband (energy was not something I lacked in those days) and I would never worry about trivial things, such as housework and money.

I laughed out loud in a beautiful moment of self realisation, acceptance and joy!

Happy birthday mum!

This is what Iceland looks like...

... seen through the lens of Pixie... otherwise known as my auntie Begga. And I didn't even know, up until very recently, that she was 'dabbling' in photography. See all her pictures on ipernity. Those are two of my favorites, the colours just get me.

Happiness is...

... a buquet of flowers from a three year old mummy's boy :)

We're going on holiday!

I'm so excited! I managed to book us this little cottage in beautiful Snæfellsnes for a week in June. This is one of the most beautiful places in Iceland with the Snæfells glacier, beaches, little fishing villages, beautiful birdlife and all to be enjoyed around the 24 hour sunlight of summer solstice. I'm also very exited because believe it or not, my husband and I have never been on holiday together! Apart from visiting my parents over the holidays when we used to live in London. I'm seeing long walks and honest talks in the summer night, lots of time to read and listen to music, really having time for bonding with our little ones and just generally recharging our batteries.

Have babies, will flush!

Our older son was a really light sleeper and we got so desperate to get him to sleep well that we were sneaking around our own house, whispering to each other so that we wouldn't wake him up. It got so bad that sometimes if my husband had to leave the house in the evening, he would jump out the living room window (fortunately we lived on the ground floor), he frequently slept on the sofa in the living room and we were terrified of even flushing the toilet! After I put our younger son to bed yesterday I had to go to the bathroom, and as I reached to flush I had this huge flashback to those times and thought to myself... No way! I'm going to flush! And it made me feel like I was living on the edge, taking chances, rebel style. Oh the joys of parenthood!

Baby bliss

So our newest family member did come on the full moon on February 9th. I'd been getting mild contractions since the evening before and they continued in the morning. At noon I called my husband to come home from school (oh yes, did I mention he started film school?) and he accompanied me to the appointment I already had with my midwife. She confirmed that the baby's head was finally engaged and that I was about 3-4 cm dialated. She told us to call the hospital when the contractions lasted 40-60 seconds and coming every 4-5 minutes. We went home and I sat on my fitness ball, rolling and bouncing, and concentrated on my ujjayi breathing. At about 4:30 in the afternoon we went to the hospital and to make a short story even shorter, our boy was born 2 hours later. He's an absolute beauty, a calm, content little creature. We're enjoying getting to know each other and settling into each other's routines.

When he sleeps, I'm busy catching up on design blogs, fashion and, with my unsatiable appetite, delicious recipies that I can't wait to share with you (I'm ready to get domestic!). First up, check out the total gorgeousness in the next post!